Twilight: Blood Moon
by gotimtim
Summary: The story of Edward and Bella continues a year after Breaking Dawn. As life that has returned to normal is thrown yet again into upheaval by events outside their control. A suspenseful tale about family bonds being tested and new bonds formed. My first Twilight FanFic. Reviews welcome! This story is currently on hiatus until further notice- But will be finished - I promise you
1. Ch 1 Our life, one year later

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Author's Note:** Simply put- this is Twilight and what is happening to the Cullen Coven a year after the events in Breaking Dawn. Any mistakes in timeline, names, locations, etc are my own. This is not a romance story per se. It is just one interpretation of how the story of Edward and Bella Cullen might continue. As always with any of my works, I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank You.

**Twilight: Blood Moon**

The Volturi had returned to Italy. They were gone and we had not heard from them in a year. It was in front of many people that their reputation was tarnished beyond repair; Their decisions were questioned and their purpose was revealed.

We knew that they were sure to want to show the rest of the Vampire world that their rule was still absolute. That none could stand against them and survive. We knew that the Volturi would want to exact their revenge. What we didn't know, what know one realized, were the lengths that they would go to reach their goal.

It had been only a year since the Volturi's visit. Only a year and in many ways it felt like nothing had changed. In other ways it seemed like this last year was full of nothing but change. I know that seems like a contradiction but it's true.

We were still living in Forks, Washington. The Cullen family that I now belonged to had been in place for about three years. Carlisle figured that we could probably stay three or maybe four more before people would start talking. Before we would have to move on.

Of course I wanted to stay as long as we could. My dad, Charlie, had lived here ever since I could remember. He was still Chief of the small Forks Police Department. He still came out to the Cullen's home on a regular basis to visit and see us. His knowledge of who and what we were was expanding according to Edward, my husband. It was also Edward who was constantly watching for Charlie to suddenly realize something and for him to know too much and either cause us to have to leave, or even worse, make him a vampire too. Neither one of those options were ones that any of us wanted to entertain.

Charlie continued to dote on my daughter, Renesmee. He was constantly bringing her little gifts and trinkets. His life however was going to become more complicated soon. My dad had proposed to Sue Clearwater, who was mother to two werewolves; Seth and Leah. The two young werewolves, and members of Jacob's pack, liked my dad well enough but like me they weren't in a hurry for him to learn any more than he already knew.

That was one big change that had happened within the last year. After the almost fight with the Volturi, Sam had decided to step down as the Alpha of his pack, and leave the job of pack leader to Jacob. It was not an easy decision and it was one that Jacob told me later that Sam had agonized over for some time. However once it was made and the transition happened, everything for the wolf pack seemed to fall into place. The pack was very large now and everyone within it had concerns about it growing larger, and for good reason. The wolves were huge and with so many of them around, it was only a matter of time until one of them was noticed again.

Jacob wore his mantle of pack leader reluctantly. His claim was that he only did it for the good of the pack. Now they were all one again they were that much stronger for it. Sam remained in the pack of course; as Jacob's second. Since Jacob spent so much of his time in human form due to his imprinting on Renesmee, it was like Sam was still in command anyway. The part that Jacob liked was that Sam didn't seem to feel as though he had to report everything to Jacob. This made everyone's lives much easier.

We hadn't seen much of anyone else who stood with us that day. Though we did still see the occasional nomad pass through. The first time it happened, Sam and half of the wolf pack were running a patrol when they came across a scent they didn't know.

One of the wolves who was closer to our house came over and let Carlisle know that there was someone in the area that none of the wolves recognized. Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all went out to meet the nomad.

This nomad was near panic when they caught up to him. The wolves had him surrounded and would not let him move. Paul and Leah were among them and they were particularly hostile towards him. It was clear that the vampire was in fear for his life.

When Carlisle arrived with the others, he was quickly able to defuse the situation. Jasper helped to get everyone calmed down enough for the nomad to explain himself.

It turned out that the nomad was a friend of Garrett's, who had stood with us when we faced down the Volturi last year and now lived in Denali with our "cousins." He was on his way to visit his friend and had tracked him as far as Forks where the wolves became aware of him.

It was a very nervous vampire who was then escorted to the northern coastline where he was allowed to leave and head on up to Alaska.

Life within the Cullen house was as normal as it could get. Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme, as well as Edward and myself lived there comfortably. We laughed and talked and enjoyed each other's company.

One new pastime in the house was to help me get used to living life as a vampire. Not that I didn't already know; it was more like I was getting to know the limits of what I could do. They had me climbing trees, making insane leaps across rivers and chasms, moving rocks and logs that weighed several tons, and running as fast as all but the fastest cars could drive.

Then there was the swimming. I'd always been a decent swimmer, not great but not helpless either. But it wasn't until I tried swimming as a vampire that I really learned what I could do under the water.

It was phenomenal not to have to breathe. That meant that I could dive deeper, swim farther, and move faster in the water than any Olympic class swimmer or diver had ever dreamed of.

There was no way to describe the experience of diving so deep in the water that light couldn't penetrate enough to help the human eye to see. But that didn't stop my eyes from seeing. The pressure at the depths that I was capable of reaching would have killed a human, yet they were disturbingly easy for me to reach.

Of course no creature of the deep would come near us while we were in the water. They left immediately as soon as we entered in. I thought it might be kind of fun to try and hunt a shark, but Edward wasn't so keen on the idea. Jasper and Emmett though were all for it.

Emmett was still upset that he had never got the opportunity to wrestle an Anaconda.

Life was good. We hadn't heard from the Volturi in some time and neither had any of our friends. Things seemed to be settling down into some kind of normal.

As a result of this new kind of normal, Alice had taken it upon herself to try and teach me about fashion and the fun of going shopping. Because it pleased her, I participated. But only grudgingly. She might as well have been trying to teach a rock to grow an arm. Me having fun shopping and trying on clothes was about as likely to happen.

"Bella," Alice exclaimed in exasperation, "You're supposed to be having fun!"

"Alice, you've known me for three years. Since when have I ever thought that fashion was fun?"

"I was hoping that maybe you might change your mind," Alice grumbled.

"Not likely," I replied.

Edward walked into the closet at that moment, Renesmee trailing behind him.

"Having fun?" He asked. The look on his face suggested that he knew very well that I wasn't.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes. Edward smiled and continued on. "Carlisle wants to go hunting. I was going to go and take Renesmee with us. Would you care to come along?"

While anything would have been better than sitting in my closet letting Alice use me as a life size fashion doll, I also knew it would hurt her feelings if I left to go hunting with Edward in the middle of what we were doing. I smiled at him and was rewarded with seeing my favorite half smile given to me in return.

"I think I'm alright. Next time?"

"If you wish," Edward replied. "Have fun playing with Alice!"

Alice and I both stuck our tongues out at him and Edward chuckled as he left with Carlisle who had poked his head in to say hello.

After they were gone, Alice looked at me; "So where's Jacob today?"

"His sister is coming here from Hawaii. She doesn't know anything about us, the wolves, or anything else in our world. So, he has to go and play the part of being a brother still in school. Since he's dropped out of school, he'll either be here during those hours or out with the pack, then he'll have to go home,"

"That sounds so inconvenient," Alice commented.

"He thinks so too. I'm just glad she didn't come last year. Who knows what could have happened," I shook my head.

"We don't have to think about that anymore," Alice finished lacing up the boots she'd gotten for me and had me stand up and turn around.

I had to admit it, she'd done a good job. This outfit I liked. It was a simple white pullover sweater over jeans. The calf high leather boots were the perfect fit and very comfortable- not that I needed the comfort of shoes anymore. She'd accented the clothes with a simple, thin, gold chain necklace and a matching bracelet. The necklace and bracelet were a nice contrast with my pale skin.

"Alice, I love it!" I hugged my new sister. She was giving me a smug grin.

"It's about time," She sighed, "You're not easy to shop for you know," Rolling my eyes, I looked back at Alice and watched for a minute as she put the clothes that she'd purchased on hangers or shelves. The old clothes, except for a precious few outfits that I really liked, were boxed up to go to good will.

I helped her carry the boxes through the forest, past the large main house, and to the garage and Edward's car where one of us could drop it off the next time one of us went to the city. Once the boxes were locked inside, we went into the house itself.

Esme was working on some new designs. Emmett and Rosalie were busy at the table talking about taking about the next trip they wanted to take. They were debating on taking Edward and I with them so that they could be close to Renesmee. The only problem there was Jacob.

Jacob wouldn't let Edward and I pay for him and he couldn't stand to be away from Renesmee. While Sam could take over the pack for awhile, Jacob still had his sister at home and he wouldn't be free to do much of anything until she left to go back to Hawaii. So for now at least we were stuck at home.

I looked in the general direction of Jacob's house as I thought about him. I hadn't been there in over a year. Even though our bond with the wolves was as strong as ever it was, there were members of the tribe who were still uncomfortable with a vampire being on their lands. Carlisle thought it best to honor the boundaries of the treaty as a show of good faith with those who were still uncomfortable with our presence in the area. This had the effect of now making it impossible for me to see my friend since I was a vampire who was bound by that treaty as a Cullen.

"Oh Bella?" Esme asked as Alice and I sat down. I was sitting at a computer to compose an email to my mother. Alice had a project she was working on.

"Yes Esme?" I asked my mother in law.

"Seth stopped by just a few minutes ago looking for you. Since I didn't know if you and Alice went hunting with Edward and Carlisle, he asked if he could leave a message. He said to tell you that Charlie is coming over tonight,"

"Why wouldn't my dad just call?" I wondered aloud.

"I don't know; neither did Seth,"

Strange. I picked up my phone and looked at it. I hadn't missed any calls. I pulled up Charlie's number and dialed it. It went straight to voice mail. That wasn't entirely odd, my dad being a cop and all he sometimes got a little too busy to answer the phone. I was sure he'd see that I called and would call me back as soon as he could.

But then why would Seth come over here looking for me to tell me about Charlie?

"Bella?" Alice asked, turning to look at me.

"What is it Alice?" Looking up at her, Alice's face looked...odd. There was something wrong. This was confirmed a moment later when Jasper flitted next to her, one hand placed on her shoulder.

"What is it, Alice? What do you see?"

Alice was in a trance. She was seeing something that was far away, "I...I'm not sure. I saw Bella's face, only for an instant, and then things started flashing by too quickly for me to keep track,"

Esme was suddenly next to us. Emmett and Rosalie stopped what they were doing to come stand by us at the computer.

"Do we need to call Carlisle?" Esme asked worriedly.

Suddenly Alice's face cleared. "No, I don't think so."

"What was it you saw, Alice?" I asked. What had caused her to see me in her vision and be alarmed enough to say my name? She hadn't done anything like that for over a year.

A sudden sense of dread washed over me. I knew, suddenly and without a doubt, that this had something to do with Charlie.

Standing up, I moved to the door. I had a sudden urge to see my dad. I needed to know that Charlie was alright.

"Bella?" Jasper asked looking up at me.

"I'm sure Edward is fine," Emmett said, mistaking my concern.

"I'm sure he is too," I smiled back at Emmett, "I'm going into Forks."

I was out the door and gone in a flash. It only took me a very few seconds to run into town. Making an easy leap up into the thick canopy of the trees, I stayed in the shadows of the heavy pine boughs as I quickly made my way around the town to the police station.

In that moment I was thankful that Forks was surrounded by so many trees. It made getting into and out of town while not being noticed easy. If you were a vampire.

Even now, a year later, the only people from Forks who had seen me as a vampire were the wolves from Jacob's pack, Billy Black, Sue Clearwater, and Charlie. No one else knew in town knew that I was still around. We'd done this on purpose so that I could be near Charlie but not endanger him. Though from the sound of his voice now, him being in danger was the last thing on his mind.

My vampire ears, so much better at hearing things than my old human ears ever were, could even now hear Charlie inside the police station even though I was easily a hundred feet away from him up in the pine boughs. He sounded like he was under a lot of stress.

"Alright, thanks. That's what I was afraid of," He was saying.

Charlie was quiet on the phone for a minute while he listened to whoever was on the other end. From this far away, I could hear that person talking but not make out more than a few words of what they were saying.

"Thanks for taking a look into it. I'll dig around and see if there's anything up here that can be used to help you," I heard the beep that signaled a disconnected line.

Looking around the station, it was clear that no one was around who could see me if I got closer. I even took a minute to listen to the sounds of the forest to see if I could hear any heartbeats of humans I might not have noticed. Nothing.

It only took half a second to drop to the foot of the tree. Carefully I approached the back wall of the police station where it was closest to the forest. I got right up against it and closed my eyes. I could hear everything that was going on inside.

Charlie was hungry. His stomach was growling. I heard him sigh heavily just as Mark, his deputy, entered the room. Mark's voice sounded a little strange, almost sympathetic.

"Anything?"

"No, they haven't found anything yet. The guys down there want me to look around up here just on the off chance that there's anything that can help them,"

"Do you need any help?" Mark asked.

Charlie sighed heavily, "No. I have some stuff to do at home. I'm going to knock off a little early tonight and hit this fresh in the morning. I need to call Bella too..."

Well, now that I knew that Charlie was okay, I could head back home. He would be likely to call in just a little bit, or even more likely to come over. Again I leapt up into the trees and started heading back to the house. It was as easy as running on the ground.

Edward met me about halfway. He was waiting for me on the forest floor.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"I think so," I answered him with a smile.

"Esme said that Seth came by while we were out. We need to get home if we're going to be there when Charlie gets there,"

"Charlie just said he was going home,"

"That's what Charlie was telling Mark. He's going straight to the house," Edward answered.

I was looking into his eyes as they were looking into mine. We were still close enough for Edward to hear Charlie's thoughts. A pained look crossed Edward's features just long enough for me to register it before they smoothed over again.

"What is it?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "Come on, we should get home."

"Edward!" I demanded as we started running, "What is it you're not telling me?"

"You'll know soon enough," was his only reply.

Stunned at his refusal to tell me, I started slowing down. Edward slowed with me and by the time we got to the house we were only walking, albeit quickly.

"Did you find Charlie okay?" Alice asked from where she sat. She seemed a little too cheerful.

"Yes, he's fine. I needn't have worried," I answered her.

"Mama," Renesmee said as she came up to me. I could see the faint pink flush of her cheeks from her recent meal, "Esme said that Grandpa is coming over?"

"Yes, he is." I answered her with a smile.

This got me a smile in return. Renesmee loved Charlie. She loved it even more now that she didn't have to hide so much of herself from him. Her continued growth had taken care of that.

Charlie had reacted to Renesmee's growth and development about like he had to everything else. He only wanted to know what he needed to know. The rest of it we were to keep to ourselves.

The look on his face the first time he heard Renesmee speak was more than enough reason to support his request. He looked like he was going to fall off his chair. All my daughter had done was offer him a glass of water when it was hot outside.

Edward's face was concerned as he listened to Charlie's thoughts when this happened. However, much like I did when I first met Edward, Charlie came to his own conclusions. And like mine, his were also incorrect. Again I thought of what would happen when Charlie really did find out exactly what was going on in Forks.

With him marrying Sue Clearwater and being over here as often as he was, I felt that it was inevitable. However Edward and Carlisle were quick to disagree.

"You're forgetting Jacob and the wolf pack. They have as much a reason to help us stay here now as they did before when they were wanting us to stay away," Carlisle had said.

"Even more so. Especially now that Jacob has imprinted," Edward amended reassuringly.

I couldn't help but wonder how much of what Edward had said was due to his faith in the Quileute wolves or was simply an effort to calm my fears. At the moment it didn't matter.

"Is he coming to see me?" Renesmee asked.

"He always wants to see you," Carlisle said picking her up effortlessly. He was rewarded with a beautiful smile.

It wasn't long before Charlie arrived. He was alone and still in uniform. I had to stifle a smile when I thought about him coming into the one house in Forks where a gun would do absolutely no good against anyone who lived there. Not that he would ever test that theory.

Edward only had time to raise an eyebrow at me before Charlie's knock on the door was heard. Carlisle set Renesmee down so that she could run and answer the door.

"Grandpa!" She exclaimed when she saw him standing there.

By reflex Charlie bent down and scooped her into his arms. With these new eyes I could see immediately that there was something in his demeanor that wasn't right. His face was tense and his shoulders and back were held stiff.

"Hey Nessie," Charlie said in a gruff voice, "You're getting heavy. Have you been keeping everyone out of trouble?"

Even my daughter knew that something wasn't right. She was looking at him strangely.

"What is it Grandpa?"

Right away I noticed that Jasper and Alice had entered the room silently. Even Emmett and Rosalie had taken up a position near the stairs as they observed Charlie. What caught my attention even more was Edward as he immediately put his arm around me. In a voice that was far too low and fast for Charlie to have a chance of hearing, Edward warned Carlisle; "He's not here with good news. Something has happened,"

Before Carlisle could do any more than lift an eyebrow inquisitively, Charlie spoke.

"Bella?" His voice cracked.

I don't know what affected me more; hearing his voice sound like that or the expression in his eyes as he looked at me. He swallowed hard twice before setting Renesmee down and coming over to the couch where I was sitting. I doubt he would have even noticed that every form in the room became as still as stone.

"Dad?" I asked him, "What is it?"

Charlie came forward and squatted down in front of me. He glanced at the Cullens briefly before continuing on.

"Bells, Honey, there's no easy way to tell you this," He began.

Edward's jaw flexed. From the corner of my eye I saw him look at Jasper. However before Jasper could do much more than catch Edward's signal, Charlie continued.

"It's your Mom, Bells. Something has happened...she's...she's gone," His voice cracked again.

"Gone?" I asked, my voice shrill. Right away the room flooded with a sense of calm. Charlie felt it too. He took a deep breath and explained in more detail. His voice was nothing but pain.

"She's dead Bells. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you that," Charlie looked down at the floor. I heard him swallow hard again.

My eyes pricked and there was a hard lump in my own throat that I couldn't speak past. The full weight of what my dad had told me hadn't come crushing down on me yet. That would happen later, when Jasper wasn't around.

"Oh Charlie," Esme said waving Carlisle forward with a chair which he then helped my father into. She was rubbing his back and looked like she would be crying herself if she could.

For several minutes no one said a word. Not even Renesmee. The house was entirely silent except for the sounds of the wind and rain in the trees outside. Absently I heard the sound of heavy paws pounding the earth a few hundred yards out from the house. One of the wolves on patrol no doubt.

"What happened Charlie? Does anyone know?" Carlisle asked softly.

"They're not exactly sure," Charlie said gruffly, "I had been talking back and forth with Renee about why Bella hadn't been down to see her since the honeymoon. She and Phil had come into some money and were going to make a trip up here and surprise Bella. I was trying to hold them off until I could tell you about it.

When she didn't call for a couple days I called her, or tried to. I left a few messages for her but she never returned the call. I called the Jacksonville Police Department and asked them to check on her as a professional courtesy. They called back today. He said that the news wasn't good. They found Renee and Phil..."

He looked like he wanted to say more but when he looked at me he changed his mind. This was something I had yet to experience in this body. Real, hard, grief. The pain that I'd felt when Edward left two years ago was nothing compared to what I was feeling now.

My flighty, flakey, hair brained mother with her child-like view of the world. Gone. No more would I hear the sound of her voice as she told me about the latest thing that she was into or the latest book that she had read. No more would I be able to smile at her as she relived some experience for me. No more emails or phone calls. Nothing.

Charlie put his head into his hands. He looked like a man defeated. I knew that somewhere, deep down, he still loved my mother. They got along very well for being divorced. They had done everything they could to make my childhood as easy as possible. Seeing him like this, in a way that was so unlike him, drove home what he had told me more than anything else. My mother really was gone.

Even though my eyes were dry, that still didn't stop me from beginning to react to the shock of the horror I had just been confronted with. Edward and Esme immediately started trying to comfort and console me. Rosalie and Emmett took Renesmee into another room for a few minutes while Jasper and Alice stayed. Alice was trying to comfort Charlie as best she could while Jasper was using his unique ability to control the emotional climate of a room to try and keep things in the house calm.

Even some of the others were feeling a sense of loss in their own way. Edward had met Renee a couple of times and had genuinely liked her. Esme and Renee had become friends during the time that they were preparing for our wedding. The looks on their faces told me that their feelings mirrored mine.

Suddenly I wanted to be up doing something. I wanted to run. Fast. As fast as my legs could go. I wanted to run until I couldn't run anymore, no matter that it might take me an eternity. And if I couldn't run, then I wanted to scream and break something. I could rip up entire trees out of the ground with almost no effort. I could decimate the entire forest within an hour. I wanted to...to...my mind went blank.

"Bella?" Jasper said as he suddenly appeared at my side. Charlie didn't even notice him.

"Bella, Love, we'll get through this," Edward said reassuringly.

In a sudden rush I was off the couch and holding on to Charlie who returned my hug fiercely. When I heard his back pop and he grunted from the pain of my embrace I remembered to ease up.

Since I had become a vampire I had never once regretted it. Not once in a single year. But right now in this moment I hated the fact that I couldn't cry properly in this body. I detested that I couldn't shed tears for the loss of my own mother which made the pain all that more difficult to bare.

"Do they know what happened?" Emmett asked quietly from the stairs.

I knew he'd said it too low for Charlie to hear, but I heard him. Suddenly a red film washed over my eyes as I remembered that my mom didn't just die as part of an accident. She didn't get sick and expire from her human body's inability to fight off some virus or infection. She was taken from me. Someone had purposely put an end to her life.

Rage such as I'd known only once before flooded through me. My grip on Charlie started tightening again. Then, suddenly, as if a plug had been removed from a socket, my rage and grief and sorrow calmed. It had become bearable. I still felt it but it was less intense. I looked at Jasper gratefully and he nodded back.

However one thing stayed in my mind. It was the last thought I'd had before Jasper took control over the emotional climate in the room. I would find out who was responsible for this. I would find out who it was. I would locate them and track them down. And I would end them.

So far to date I had not killed a single human being. But when I thought about ending the lives of those responsible for the death of my mother I realized I didn't think of them as human at all. That made the thought that I would be killing another sentient being much more easy to bare.

Charlie stayed with me at our house for several hours. Someone, I'm not sure who, had the presence of mind to find one of the wolves and have them get a message to Jacob and to Sue. Within an hour of Charlie's arrival they came walking into the house.

Jacob's expression of concern and curiosity were replaced with shared grief and shock when he picked up Renesmee and she played back to him the scene she had witnessed. I saw something familiar in his face as his own eyes began to tear up in a way that mine could not. Then I remembered. Jacob had lost his mother too.

Like me, Jacob's mother was taken from him. She had died in a car accident when Jacob was still pretty little. Still he recognized and remembered the pain he'd endured from that time, and he was still human enough to be able to cry at the memory and the pain of someone close to him who was going through the same thing.

"What happened?" Jacob demanded. They were the first words out of his mouth since he'd got here.

"Jake," Sue cautioned him with a hand on his arm.

Charlie looked up at the sound of their voices. He sat up and Sue immediately took him into her arms. Jacob came forward and enfolded me in his.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. There's no words..."

"It's alright, Jake. I'm glad you're here,"

"So am I Jacob, thank you for coming." Edward said earnestly.

Charlie spoke again to answer Jacob's question; "We don't know exactly what happened. I had called in a professional courtesy to have the Jacksonville Police go over and check on Renee when I didn't hear from her for a few days. They found her and her husband Phil..."

"Do they know anything more?" Jacob asked.

Charlie looked at me and Renesmee pointedly. He knew more and didn't want to say anything in front of us. Jacob wasn't having it.

"Charlie, they're tough. They can handle it. Just say it whatever it is,"

"Jake, c'mon. Bella just learned her mother died. I really don't think she needs to know the specifics of how it happened just now,"

I saw Edward's eyes tighten at something he was reading, presumably in Charlie's thoughts. "They think it was foul play,"

Charlie looked hard at Edward for a long moment, then nodded.

"From what they found they said it was pretty obvious. And that they had never seen anything like it..." Charlie shuddered.

Edward's eyes widened and returned to normal so fast that even I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking directly at him. Something in Charlie's thoughts had surprised him. He gave out a low hiss.

Carlisle's eyes, always so kind and compassionate, filled with concern when he looked upon his oldest son, "One of us?"

His whisper was so quiet there was no way that Charlie or Sue would have heard it. However the rest of us did. That concern turned to dread when, ever so slightly, Edward nodded. Again the rage that I'd felt before started washing over me. I was able to stifle it this time before it got too far out of control.

"Very good, Bella," Jasper whispered from where he stood. I nodded at him.

"Who could it have been?" Alice asked.

"We need to have this discussion at a later time," Edward stated plainly.

All of this was said in whispers that were too low and too fast for human ears. I returned to my seat on the couch where Edward wrapped his arms around me. Renesmee too got down from Jacob's arms and came to cuddle in my lap. We all sat there, together, in the living room for a long time that afternoon.

Charlie left after a while, taking Sue with him. That was when the rest of us jumped into action.

"I want to go to Florida," I announced.

This was no surprise to any of the others. Edward and Carlisle nodded at each other. They had been expecting this.

"Take Jasper and Emmett with you. You can leave tonight and get there before the sun comes up in the morning," Carlisle stated quietly.

"What about Renesmee?" Jacob asked quickly.

"She can stay here with the rest of us. I don't think now would be a good time for her to go to Jacksonville," Esme replied.

"I'm going to go see about the travel arrangements," Alice said, standing up.

Edward continued to hold me on the couch while I held on to my daughter. There was so much to do and so many questions to ask. But right now I could hardly think of them. At the moment I just wanted one thing. I wanted my mom.


	2. Ch 2 The Funeral

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Author's Note:** Simply put- this is Twilight and what is happening to the Cullen Coven a year after the events in Breaking Dawn. Any mistakes in timeline, names, locations, etc are my own. This is not a romance story per se. It is just one interpretation of how the story of Edward and Bella Cullen might continue. As always with any of my works, I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank You.

**Chapter 2**

Our plane touched down in Jacksonville very early that morning. If the circumstances were different, I might have even found some humor in the expressions of the flight attendants and airport staff was we; Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and I breezed through security and out into the parking area. I'm sure we must have looked like an interesting site; one woman, three men, all breathtakingly beautiful to look at, just appearing off the plane and moving through the airport with no baggage save for my purse.

We were cleared out of the airport and found a quiet area that the security cameras didn't cover. Edward stole a fast car that could hold us all and we climbed in. There would be no time for stopping anywhere.

There were only a few hours until the sun came up and we would have to hide until dark. We had to move fast.

Edward remembered perfectly how to get to my mother's house. We left the car at a city park about five blocks away and then ran the rest of the way. We ran along the rooftops, out of the bright lights of the streetlamps. Out of sight of someone who might be out for a stroll or a passing police officer.

When we were just three houses away, we perched on the roof of a small bungalow when Edward stopped us.

"I think I should be the one to go on from here," He said looking at me meaningfully.

"Edward, no! I want to come too!"

"Bella, let Edward take a look first. Let him make sure of what there is to see and then if it's not too bad you can go in," Jasper advised. I looked at him and saw compassion in his eyes. Emmett, as always, looked like he was taking all this in stride.

"Fine then," I nodded at Edward.

He kissed me on the forehead, "Back in a minute, my love."

He was gone just like that. He moved so fast that my human eyes never could have followed him. Now it was easy to track him as he moved towards my mother's house just a few dozen yards away.

Even from where we were located up on the roof of the bungalow, I could see the yellow police crime scene tape. It was weird watching that house, knowing that up until recently my mother had lived there happily with her husband, Phil. Now they were both gone and we didn't have a clue as to why. Hopefully we would be able to figure that out.

Edward was back very quickly; his expression was blank which confused me.

"What is it Edward?" Jasper asked him.

"It was definitely one of us. The scent is strong but it's not one that I recognize."

"Were you thinking you might?" Emmett asked him.

"I thought it a possibility at least," Edward said as he looked at me.

"So what do you want to do now?" Emmett asked him but I answered the question.

"I want to track him. Now,"

"Bella..." Edward cautioned.

"No Edward, whoever this was killed my mom! I want to find them!" I said clearly.

"We will, Love, we will. But right now we need to think of Charlie. There's going to be a funeral and he's going to need your support. I think you might need his too,"

"Edward..." I started to argue with him.

"He's right, Bella. Deal with the immediate issues first. We'll still have time to track whoever this was. Charlie needs you now," There was no arguing with Jasper on this point. He was right.

We leaped down from the roof tops and went into my mom's house so we could familiarize ourselves with the scent of whoever had been there and killed her and my step-dad. It was as unfamiliar to me as it was to Edward which wasn't surprising. I hadn't been a Vampire long enough to come across many scents and know who it was that had left them.

Even Emmett and Jasper had to admit that they too were unfamiliar with the scent. They kept back and watched as Edward and I moved around the house. Right away I found the room that my Mom had set aside for me. It had my bed and blankets from when we lived in Phoenix. There were pictures of my mother and I on the walls, and the computer I'd used was set up on a desk.

Even though the room was mine, it had a foreign feel to it. Then I realized why. It was my room, but it was a room that I would never stay in. This computer was one I would never do homework at. The bed, once a place of comfort and refuge for me, would never be slept in again. At least not by me. Not now that my Mom was gone and if I was being honest with myself, not since Edward and I got married.

Suddenly the feeling of missing my Mom and her crazy, child-like ways overwhelmed me. My eyes pricked where once they would have shed tears. Again I wanted nothing more than to cry and to mourn the loss of my mother. But I couldn't do that right now.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Jasper asked from the doorway.

I could see Emmett behind him and Edward was just inside the door, watching me. He moved forward and pulled me into his arms.

"I know this isn't easy. We'll find them. We'll make sure that someone answers for this,"

Again a feeling of calm came over me. It allowed me to gather my thoughts and swallow my pain and my anger, at least for the time being.

"I know. I just wish I could have...talked to her one more time. I wish I could have told her good-bye,"

"I am sorry that things happened the way they did. It would have been nice for you to be able to see your mother again," Edward said quietly.

We left the room and moved to look through the rest of the house. I took a minute to really and truly look around what could have once been my home. Their bedroom was a mess. The funny part was it looked like the entire mess had been made by the police who had come investigating. The smell of the intruder was concentrated around the window and the bed. He or she had been through the rest of the house but didn't dwell overlong in any one place.

"Whoever it was, it seems they knew exactly what they were after," Jasper commented.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"They came in and left by this window. While they moved through the house, they didn't stop anywhere else. Unless their hearing is horribly off, they would have heard if someone else was in the house while they were here."

Staring at Jasper, I wanted to know; "So what does that mean?"

"It means that whoever did this may not have just been..." Jasper faltered at Edwards look.

"Let's just wait and see what happens when we have a chance to explore a little more,"

"Edward, no! I want to find out who did this! What did Jasper mean about whoever did this? Tell me!"

"Bella, lets get through the funerals first. Then, after you and Charlie have had your chance to say good-bye, I promise that we'll track down the one responsible." Edward sighed.

His face told me all I needed to know. He suspected something and he wasn't going to say what it was. Not now anyway.

"Edward, we have a couple days until the funeral..."

"You're forgetting Charlie, Bella," Emmett said, "He's going to show up tomorrow if not the day after and he's going to want to know where you're at. You need to be there for him. You know we won't let this rest. You need to do what you can to make sure Charlie is kept as far from this as possible,"

Edward was nodding his head, "He's right, Bella."

Again I wanted to cry and again I hated the fact that I couldn't. I was so sad at losing my mom and so angry at the one who took her from me that I didn't know what to think. Eventually a sense of calm washed over me. I looked over at Jasper who smiled.

"Thanks, Jasper,"

"Anytime," He replied.

We made it back to Forks the next evening. If Charlie suspected anything about my absence for a day, he didn't say anything about it. Edward said that his mind seemed very preoccupied. I couldn't blame him.

It was a difficult thing to get used to, having all this room inside my own head. I found I could think about what happened to Renee while at the same time being concerned about Charlie and also wanting to help him as much as I could.

When we pulled into the garage, Seth came out to meet us. He was huge now. I had to look up to see into his eyes. He was smiling widely and his muscles were easily discernable as Jacob's were at sixteen.

"Wow Seth! It's only been two days and I can tell how much you've grown!" I commented.

His easy smile widened and his cheeks colored a little. My human eyes would have missed it because of Seth's dark russet skin but my vampire eyes picked up on it easily.

"It's not been by that much," He replied.

"Its been enough that I could tell,"

"He's here to let you know that Charlie's inside. He's been here about an hour wondering where you are," Edward stated. It was his cue that we needed to get inside.

"He wants to talk about the funeral," Seth added.

This brought my mood, which had lightened somewhat on the way home, back into a more sour disposition. I hadn't even thought about the funeral much. Of course there would be one. Then a thought occurred to me; how do I go to a funeral for my mother when I can't cry over her? I'd have to talk to Carlisle about that and see if he had any ideas.

We went inside the house and found Charlie there. For once he wasn't in his uniform.

"Hey Dad," I said as we walked into the house.

"Bells! There you are, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to," Charlie asked, his tone of voice almost made it an interrogation.

"Sorry, Dad. I do have things that I have to do, even now," I told him.

He looked at me for a moment then nodded his head sheepishly, "You're right, I should have thought of that. I need to talk to you, Bella,"

"Sure Dad, what about?" I asked him, playing my part.

"Well as I'm sure you probably know, Renee is going to be having a funeral. I needed to talk to you about that," Charlie hedged.

"How so, Dad? Did you want to fly down to Jacksonville together?" I asked him.

"Since you don't want to use the money I'd set aside for your schooling, I figured I could use it to make the trip down there and take you and Edward with me,"

"Charlie," Esme interrupted quietly, "This has been a horrific turn of events for you and Bella both. Carlisle and I want to support you and Bella in this. Please, it would mean so much to us if you would let us accompany you to Jacksonville. Of course, we'll cover the cost of the transportation. This should just be a time for mourning, not for having to worry about how you're going to be able to make the trip to get there,"

"I...I can't do that," Charlie said quietly as he looked at the floor.

I could have told Esme that her offer would be a lost cause, but I knew she would have wanted to try anyway.

"Please, Charlie. Renee was Bella's mother and while we didn't know her long, we loved her too. You would be honoring us by letting us do this," Carlisle added with feeling.

Charlie frowned; his brow furrowed and his face made it clear that he was deep in thought. I watched Edward's face as he listened to the tone of Charlie's thoughts. When I saw him relax a bit, I knew that my Dad would agree to letting Carlisle and Esme take care of getting us down to Jacksonville.

He nodded his head and finally after a minute added; "Thank you,"

His tone was gruff and he turned his head. I realized in that moment that while Charlie had gotten over my mom when they divorced, he still loved her in some way. Her death was bothering him a lot more than he was letting on.

Just then Sue Clearwater showed up with Jacob behind her. They walked into the house and I could tell that she was hurting just as much as Charlie was. It wasn't that Sue was grieving the death of my mom, she was hurting because she loved Charlie and it was he that was hurting right now. I was also sure that she must be remembering the loss of her husband, Harry. This whole situation could not be easy on her.

"Hey Bells," Jacob said with his easy smile muted behind the concern in his eyes.

He must know that we were planning on going to Florida and be worried that Renesmee would be leaving to go with us. The forced separation would be almost unbearable for him.

"Hey, Jake. How's it going?" I replied.

He smiled and I returned it with a small one of my own. Right now I had other things on my mind that were a little more pressing.

"Do you know when the funeral is, Dad?" I asked returning my attention to Charlie.

Charlie sighed heavily as he replied; "Not exactly yet, no. Renee didn't have many relatives. Those that are there, your cousins mostly, all live almost as far away as we do. They're not going to be able to make the trip. I don't know how many friends she or Phil had, and I don't know what he had by way of family.

The Jacksonville guys tell me that she and Phil did have some life insurance, enough to pay for the funeral and to leave you a little bit besides. It won't be much though. They didn't have a will to speak of, but unless someone steps up and makes some sort of claim on something, you can pretty much take what you want from the house, if there's anything there that you would like. They're really trying to get all this sorted out and aren't having much luck..."

At these words Edward and I traded a meaningful glance. Charlie was oblivious to this as he continued on.

"They didn't have money, so that's been pretty well ruled out. They didn't have any enemies that anyone knows about. They were well liked, but didn't really have many close friends. They're stumped,"

He looked up now at me and his features tightened suddenly, "I'm sorry, Bella. You didn't need to hear all of that."

"It's alright, Charlie," Carlisle answered, "I'm sure that the police down in Jacksonville are doing everything they can,"

My dad nodded his head and looked out the window for a minute. The breeze was blowing, driving the ever present rain through the trees and making interesting water patterns on the windows. He sighed after a moment then turned to me.

"Traditionally a funeral is held about three days after someone has died. Does that give you enough time to arrange travel plans?"

"We're already working on it," Esme reassured him.

At that moment Alice and Rosalie arrived back home. They had taken Renessme out hunting. Right away my daughter flew first into my arms for a hug, then Edwards, then Jacob's and finally to Charlie's where she stayed for a few minutes.

"What about Nessie? Are we taking her?" Charlie asked.

I turned to Edward for his opinion. He looked at me and then back at Charlie, "I think she might be better served to remain here in Forks. Emmett and Rosalie can watch her. If Jasper and Alice stay here too, they would also be happy to help,"

"Of course we would," Alice said as she came forward to give Charlie a careful hug.

He returned it awkwardly and then looked at Carlisle and Esme; "Thank you for doing this,"

"Really, Charlie, it's alright. You need to mourn. Will you be joining us, Sue?" Carlisle asked as he turned to face her, "We'll pick up the cost of the trip. You need only bring yourself and any clothes you want to wear,"

Turning to look at Sue, Charlie's face wore a faint, hopeful expression. She seemed to see the same thing I did when she looked back at him that she turned to look at Carlisle and nod her head, "Yes, I'll go. Thank you."

Carlisle and Esme smiled at her as she moved forward and placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder. He reached up and put his hand on hers for a minute. It almost seemed an intrusion on their privacy to see them share that quiet moment like they were.

They stayed for a while longer. Edward, ever the consummate host, made dinner for them, Jacob, and Seth who had retreated to the living room to watch a ball game with Emmett.

Renesmee dutifully let Charlie fawn and fuss over her. She seemed to understand the need for being quiet and calm. With her near, Charlie tried to put on a more happy face which served to lighten the mood in the entire house for everyone.

When Charlie and Sue left with Seth, Renesmee came up to me and put her hand to my face. As was her preferred way to communicate, she showed me, from her memories of Charlie's sad face and the faces of those around the house for the last few days, and then followed that with my leaving for the last two days. Her images had a questioning tone to them.

Edward, who had read her thoughts, picked her up and sat her down next to him. He began to explain about what had happened to my mom.

"We have to leave town for a few days," He began.

"Why Daddy?"

"Your grandmother, whom you've not met, passed away. We, your mother, me, and Grandma Esme, Grandpa Carlisle, and Grandpa Charlie, have to go to her funeral. We'll only be gone a few days and then we'll come back home to see you,"

Edward was explaining this so patiently to her. Hearing him talk about this, the funeral for my mother, made it difficult for me to be in the room. Suddenly I needed to get out. Away. I needed to be doing something.

In a rush so fast that it caught everyone by surprise, I was off the couch, out the door, across the river and halfway to the sound before I slowed down to a walk. But running wasn't enough. I wanted to kill, maim, to hurt something. Screaming in anger and frustration at the top of my lungs, I picked up a huge boulder and sent it flying through a stand of fir trees.

Leaping through the devastation I'd just caused upon the trees, I started tearing them up one by one, smashing them into nothing more than pulp and splinters. When I was through with the trees I moved on to the boulder I'd thrown that now lay an easy two hundred yards away.

It had tore a swath of destruction through the ferns and smaller trees. From where I stood I leapt high through the air and landed on top of it and began pummeling it with my bare fists. Before long the boulder, which had to have weighed several tons, was nothing more than gravel. My fingers tearing through the stone like a hot knife does soft butter.

Turning around I started searching for something else that I could destroy. Except Edward stood there alone a dozen yards away, watching me. Much further back behind him stood Carlisle and Esme. Concern and pain were etched into all of their features.

It was some small comfort to know that they too shared my grief. That they too were mourning.

"Bella?" Was all Edward said. His voice matched the concern in his eyes.

In a flash I ran up to him and felt him slip his arms around me. Carlisle and Esme came closer and I could feel them rubbing my back and doing the best they could to provide comfort for me.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. Of course this must be terribly difficult for you. I was absurd to..."

"It's not you, Edward. It's me. Its this new body. I can't...grieve for my mother the way I want to. I can't cry for her. I can't shed a single tear, and I want to. I want to so bad I can't stand it. And it only makes me angrier at the one who took her from me. I want to...want to.."

I screamed again, this time in frustration. I felt so...helpless. Like there wasn't anything that I could do. It was the first time since I'd become a vampire where I'd felt completely helpless and incapable.

At least when we were preparing to fight the Volturi, I could do something. I had an enemy I knew and that I could fight against. It may have been a losing battle, but at least I would have gone down fighting. This situation with my mother and the mystery vampire who had attacked her in her home had me aching to do something. It wasn't like anything I could ever remember having felt before.

"Bella, we'll get him, I promise you that," Edward said into my ears.

I knew that Edward would help me to find the one that did this. That all of the family would. This is one of the many reasons that I loved them all so much. But that feeling of love and fellowship did little to assuage my anger now.

"It is a hardship having that limitation thrust upon us," Carlisle said consolingly, "We feel things as much if not more than we did while we were human. We love more intensely, we rage more heatedly and can be more patient than even the wisest sage. But we cannot cry. That human response is something that is denied to us. But that doesn't mean that you can't grieve. We will help you through the process."

"We all will, Bella. You know that. Nessie won't lack for attention and neither you nor Charlie will lack for support," Esme said as she pulled me into a tight motherly hug.

I harkened back to the first time that she hugged me; how careful she'd been. There was none of that careful reservation in her embrace this time. In all the ways that mattered, I had become one of her children. She would help me and protect me and be a mother to me as much as any of the others. We were the family she had always wanted.

Together we began walking back to the house. It was a slow pace, one that even a human could have kept up with easily. We came upon the trail of a small herd of black-tailed deer that had seen fit to run from the commotion I was causing in the forest.

Thirsty now due to my efforts and the fact that it have been several days since last I'd fed, I started hunting them. The others came with me whether due to their own hunger or just for the company I didn't know. But I appreciated it all the same.

When we got back to the house, Jacob met us outside. His easy smile was a refreshing thing to see after the events of this afternoon. He pulled me into one of his tight bear hugs that would have left me hungering for air before. Now it was a hug that I had to return carefully lest I crush him with my strength.

"You doing okay, Bells?" He asked casually.

"No, but I'm better than I was," I told him honestly.

"We'll make sure things stay calm here," He reassured me as he joined us on our return back to the house, "You and Charlie go down to Jacksonville; say good-bye to your mom. Trust me, that will help."

Jacob was right of course. I knew that. It still didn't make the coming trip any more pleasant to look forward to. We entered into the house and I saw my daughter looking up at me expectantly. Alice, who had been holding her, opened her arms to that Nessie could come see me.

She ran up to me and leapt into my arms. After a fast, tight, hug, she put her hand to my cheek. I immediately saw through her eyes a replay of the scene I'd cause just a little while prior. Me jumping up and rushing out of the room in a blur of sudden motion. I also was made privy to the looks on the faces of everyone in the room and saw how fast first Edward, then Carlisle and Esme were to follow me.

It warmed my heart to not only see this, but to also see how quick Jacob, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and Roaslie were to make sure that Renesmee was reassured that nothing that she had just seen had anything to do with her. The scene of my hurried departure replayed again, this time with a questioning tone.

"Momma is very sad today," I answered her directly.

She played a picture of Charlie in my mind. His features matched mine more closely than I'd thought possible. Again there was that same questioning tone.

"Yes, Charlie is sad too," I answered her.

"Why momma?" Renesmee asked directly, "Is it because of your Mommy?"

"Yes," I answered her, "My Mommy has gone away somewhere where I can't see her,"

"Where?" Renesmee asked.

It was a question I didn't know how to answer. I know that Edward had some spiritual beliefs, as did Carlisle. But for myself I'd never been particularly religious. I was saved from answering that question by Jacob of all people.

"Heaven," It was a simple reply.

"What's Heaven?" Renesmee wanted to know.

All eyes in the room turned towards Jacob. This was going to be his show. He took a deep breath before squatting down next to Nessie and taking her into his arms.

"Heaven is...a place where those who can no longer be with us here go to be when they die. They wait for us there until we go to join them someday."

This answer seemed to be enough to satisfy my daughter. She nodded her head and laid it down on Jacob's chest. She soon fell asleep there. I watched the two of them together and thought about what it was he'd told her about my Mom. I found some comfort in the fact that if my Mom couldn't be here, that at least she had somewhere to go. There was something to that.

"Thank you, Jacob," I smiled at him.

He smiled back and nodded. It was as if some small weight had lifted from the room. I was still very sad and angry. That didn't go away. What I found was that in the moment I listened to Jacob tell my daughter where my mother was now, I was able to channel those feelings somewhere other than letting them run wild. I'd found my control again.

The flight down to Jacksonville was a fast one. Carlisle had made the reservations for us all and made sure we had separate suites in the hotel. The one thing that I worried about that no one had control over, was the weather.

As luck would have it, the weather favored us. The sky was very overcast and the rains were plentiful. A series of storms had been blowing over the state for a week and were scheduled to be there for another week after we were scheduled to leave. For us, the vampires, that made it possible for us to gather at the graveside service for my mother and Phil.

Charlie wore the same suit to Renee's funeral that he did to my wedding. Sue Clearwater was in a nice dress and stood quietly but firmly by Charlie's side. The more I watched them, the more right it seemed that they should be together.

Edward and I, Carlisle, and Esme stood there with my Dad and Sue. The others at the funeral seemed to know almost by instinct to give the four of us who were vampires a little more room. No one, save for Charlie and Sue, stood too close to us or spent too long talking to us. Even the Minister who oversaw the funeral seemed to be a little outside of his comfort zone.

My Mom and Phil were laid into their graves side by side. Their headstone was nice for as generic as it was. The gathering was bigger than I'd expected since I knew that my mother hadn't made very many friends. It turned out that the high school team that Phil had helped to coach, along with a lot of other students and faculty from the school turned out to pay their respects.

Carlisle, Charlie and Edward acted as three pallbearers, having been asked at the last minute. A cousin of Phil's and two of his students made up the other three who carried the coffins to the hearse and from there to the graves.

The service was short and pretty generic. Charlie and I both were not one for a lot of word or much emotion. We kept our statements brief but for that they were heartfelt. We stood up and spoke our thoughts and feelings while the others gathered listened respectfully and then sat down. I felt Charlie reach over and take my hand in a grip that would have been almost painful were I human. I had to remember to be gentle and show restraint when I returned it.

After the services were concluded we all went back to the funeral home for some socializing. Charlie, who had never liked this kind of thing, stayed only for an hour before ducking out with Sue to go back to the hotel. The rest of us stayed only a little while longer before we too left to return to the hotel.

When we got back, it was to find Sue in the hotel lobby waiting for us. She was alone. When we entered she came up to us but spoke directly to me.

"Bella, your father has gone down the police station. He wants to find out where they are in the investigation. He was quite upset when he left; I'm worried about him." Her words were softly spoken but carried a lot of emotion. It was the most she had ever said to me at one time.

"We'll go and find him," Carlisle told her. He signaled to Esme who took Sue with her and accompanied her upstairs to our suites.

As soon as Sue was out of ear shot, Edward turned to us and said,

"She's right to be worried. Charlie's not in a good state of mind right now. I was listening to him during the funeral. He's in a lot more pain than he lets on,"

This statement only served to increase my agitation as we climbed into the black Mercedes that we'd rented. Carlisle had it started and we were out of the hotel parking lot in a hurry. The engine purred like a kitten as the speedometer climbed up towards eighty.

"I don't think he really ever stopped loving my Mom," I supposed as Carlisle drove on.

"He didn't from what I've been able to surmise," Edward agreed, "But he thought he'd gotten past her leaving him. Renee's death has only brought up old feelings he must have thought were long since buried. Charlie is not going to be any help to them at the police station,"

"And if he's not going to be of any help, they may not take too kindly to him being there, professional courtesy or not," Carlisle finished. His foot touched just a little bit harder on the accelerator and the car leapt forward. The speedometer now read upwards of one hundred miles per hour, but the engine sounded like we were barely moving.

When we got to the Jacksonville police station, we were admitted quickly once we made it clear who we were there to see. We were escorted into the police station by a uniformed officer who kept glancing at the three of us.

We were led back to a room that had four desks and was currently occupied by three men. Two of them were detectives in suits and then there was Charlie in his. The two detectives looked like they were near the end of their tether. They were responding to Charlie pleasantly enough but it was clear that their patience was waning. It looked like we'd arrived just in time.

"Dad!" I said as soon as we entered the room.

Startled, Charlie turned around quickly. His eyes widened to see me there with Edward and Carlisle. From the corner of my eye, I saw the two detectives that my dad had been speaking to look at me and do a double take. When Edward's head turned in their direction, their eyes moved from me to Charlie.

"Bella? What the hell are you doing here?" Charlie demanded.

"Coming to get you," I replied calmly.

"I'm fine, I'm trying to see where these guys are in their investigation," Charlie replied.

"And like we've told you," said the older of the two detectives, "We've got all the help we need. You'd do us a lot more good if you can send us what information you can find on her from Forks, or even Phoenix if you think that there's anything there,"

The detective looked like he was really trying to understand. He looked like he sympathized with Charlie, but really didn't have anything to give him. He was as frustrated about things as my Dad was, and Charlie being there wasn't helping things.

"You'd be helping things a whole lot better that way than you would be if you stayed here," The other detective added, almost as an afterthought.

"Charlie, it's been a long day for us all. Why don't we go back to the hotel and get some dinner? We can approach this with a fresh perspective tomorrow,"

"Carlisle, you're a doctor at the hospital. You know as well as I do that the best time to collect evidence is when it is as fresh as possible,"

"Charlie," Edward interrupted softly, "Bella needs you now and you need her. Let the detectives do their job. I'm sure if anything new comes up they will let you know,"

The look Charlie directed at Edward was not the most hospitable one, but it did get his attention. Sensing that he was nearly convinced, the older detective added of his own accord;

"If anything new comes up that we haven't discussed, we'll send someone over to the hotel to talk to you. You have my word on that," The older man held out his hand.

Charlie looked at it for a long moment before he sighed in defeat and shook the proffered hand; "You're right, we need to get back,"

Later that night, after a hot meal and a long talk, Dad and Sue retired to their room. That left Edward, Carlisle, Esme, and me to talk about the day's events and plan out how we wanted to approach things.

Edward wanted to go back to my Mom's place and see if he couldn't find where the vampire's trail had led to from there. I was all for this, but Carlisle was hesitant.

"We need to think about Charlie and Sue," He began.

"They'll be fine here at the hotel. Esme can look after them," Edward answered.

"I'd be happy to do that for them," was Esme's smiling reply, "They'll be safe enough here with me,"

"All the same, I'd rather not leave just one of us here. Bella..."

"No, Carlisle, I'm not staying here! It was my mom that was killed!"

Smiling at me in understanding, Carlisle waited until I was finished before he completed his thought, "Bella, why don't you and Edward go out to your Mom's house and have a look around. I'll stay here with Esme and watch over your Dad and Sue,"

Embarrassed that I'd snapped at Carlisle, I was grateful once again that I no longer had the ability to blush. All I could do was smile sheepishly at him in apology. He just smiled back in understanding.

"Thanks Carlisle,"

We didn't wait any longer. Edward and I took the rented car and drove over to my mother's house again. We parked about a block away and again approached the house by way of the rooftops of the surrounding homes. The place looked no different from the last time that we were there.

As we leapt down from the home nearest to my Mom's though, we were brought up short. There it was; the scent of the one who had killed my Mom and Phil. Except this time the scent was fresh. It covered the scent we left behind when we'd come previously.

Edward stopped with a hiss; "This isn't just some nomad that stopped to feed,"

With a horrific shock, I realized with that comment what Edward had suspected before. What it was that he'd been keeping from me and had silenced Jasper about. "This was deliberate, wasn't it?"

"Yes," The brevity of his answer belied his tension and his anger.

"But who would do such a thing?" I asked.

Edward shook his head but didn't answer. Instead we carefully followed the trail into the house.

That someone had been there again was obvious. If you were a vampire. Their scent permeated the room. It was quite easy to follow their route though my mother's home. Like we did when we were here before, he traced our steps from room to room. And again, like I had before, he'd been in my room again. Only now the one who'd come back spent longer. He'd even gone through my books. One of the spines was turned upside down.

I reached out to turn it over when something slipped out. It turned out it was three pictures of my mother and Phil. One was of them sleeping. One was of them both awake in their beds looking into the camera and looking scared. The last one was of them in what was obviously agonizing pain.

Again pure undiluted rage flooded into my system. My vision turned red and I was building up to a scream of anger when Edward was in front of me. He took the pictures from my hands and pulled me into his arms.

"Bella, love, we'll find him. We'll find him and when we do I promise you, you can be the one to kill him."

"Edward, I..."

"Shh my love. I know. I know. We've been through this before. Only this time, you're not going to have to be the one who is protected."

I buried my face in Edward's chest and let him hold me. My eyes were looking out the window into the darkness as I day dreamed about what it would be like to kill him. I was envisioning what that monster might look like when I saw him. At first I thought it was James, the vampire who had bitten me and come so close to taking my life down in Phoenix just a few short years ago.

Except it wasn't James. James was dead. Killed by Edward and his brothers. And this new person looked different too. He had darker blond hair, pulled back into a pony tail. His face was smooth and white as ours were. His ruby red eyes were looking into the window and I knew that he could see me. He also knew that I could see him. As soon as I noticed him, he grinned wickedly and then leapt off the roof and took off into the night.

"Edward! It's him! He was right outside!"

"What? How? I would have heard..."

"Come on! We have to go!" I said pulling him by the hand.

Together Edward and I took off after my mother's killer. We would track him down and find him. And then we would make him pay for what he had done to my family. I knew that this kind of emotion wasn't like me. At the moment I didn't care. I was a vampire. And the one who had hurt my family needed dealing with. We just had to catch him.


	3. Ch 3 The Nomad

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Author's Note:** Simply put- this is Twilight and what is happening to the Cullen Coven a year after the events in Breaking Dawn. Any mistakes in timeline, names, locations, etc are my own. This is not a romance story per se. It is just one interpretation of how the story of Edward and Bella Cullen might continue. As always with any of my works, I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank You.

**Chapter 3**

Faster than any human eye could have tracked, Edward and I were out the window and into the night. In less than a single second, we were crouched on the rooftop where the hostile vampire had sat watching us. His scent permeated the area like a thick blanket.

It was easy enough to follow his scent through the town. We ran past the Jacksonville Public Library, the Florida Theatre for Performing Arts, The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, and then past the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville before we crossed the Hart Bridge Express way and then the trail disappeared into the water.

I jumped in and swam quickly to the far shore. Going first up one side of the shore several miles and then to the other, I couldn't find where his trail came out. Edward, who had followed with me, suggested we swim back to the side where he entered the water and check to see if he doubled back once in the water.

Soon enough it was clear that there was no trail to follow. If the hunter had swum out to sea, then he could have come ashore anywhere; even Cuba, Texas, or Mexico. There was just too much ground to cover to do a proper search.

Edward called Carlisle as we ran back to my Mother's house and reported our findings to him; "Carlisle, we found something. It's a nomad. A hunter of some kind. Whoever it was who did this, they did it on purpose,"

After listening for a second to Carlisle's response, he replied; "I don't know. But that is certainly something we need to look into, and quickly,"

Ending the call, Edward turned to me and his expression told me all I needed to know. Carlisle agreed with him.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

Edward's eyes looked at me thoughtfully for a minute, then he made a suggestion.

"I think we should look around here and see if we can't find anything that might give us a clue to who this nomad is, or where he might have come from,"

That sounded logical enough to me. Together we began searching the area from my mother's house and followed his trail backwards. We were able to track him to the perch where he'd spied on us easily enough. It took a little more work, going in concentric circles and moving outward, to find the his trail again. It looked like he'd crossed our trail at some point and followed us in. Almost like he was expecting us to come back here.

But then why wouldn't he expect us to come back to my mother's house? Then I realized something. He had been waiting for us. He knew that we'd return. Except...

"Edward?" I asked as I turned to look at him,

"Yes, my love?" Edward's eyes were open and inquisitive. He didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"When we first came back here, did you hear anything?"

He knew right away that I wasn't referring to anything he might have heard with his ears.

"No, nothing more than the random thoughts and dreams of the people around the..."

He broke off in mid-sentence. His eyes widened as he realized where I was going with my question.

"I didn't hear him!" Edward growled.

"Could he be a shield, like me?" I asked him.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Edward looked around the area we were in; "I don't know. I suppose it's possible,"

"You didn't hear him on the rooftop from where he was watching us, did you?"

"No, I did not. However if I've not heard his voice before, I would have had a hard time picking up on his thoughts from that far away. If he'd have been closer, then maybe something in his mind might have stood out,"

Remembering what Edward had said about needing to become familiar with a persons thoughts, or 'voice', before being able to hear it from any distance away, I nodded my head in understanding. The nomad had simply been too far away, been too much in the background, for Edward to have heard him. Except that something nagged at me that it may be a little more than that.

We continued following his trail though it was difficult. The nomad had taken a very circuitous route to find us. We would locate his trail, follow it for a few dozen yards, and then it would disappear. When this happened, we would start our concentric circle searching again until we located his scent and followed it again for a few hundred yards when the whole process would repeat again.

The really frustrating part was that his pattern seemed to be random. There was no real direction that he came from. While one trail might end near a park, we'd find his scent to the east. Tracking that scent for a minute it would disappear only to find it again going west, or north, or east again.

I was reminded of when Jacob and I tried to find the meadow in Forks and how futile that search had seemed. Even then we had a map. That was when the idea struck me. A map! We could use one to see if there was a pattern hidden somewhere in the way we were tracking this nomad! I mentioned this to Edward.

"Hmmm...the idea has merit. Maybe we could see something there that might point us in the right direction. Right now though," Edward said looking to the east. There was a bit of a glow on the horizon. One that no human eye could have seen, "We need to be getting back to the hotel. It will be light soon, and Charlie will be waking up before too much longer,"

We raced back through the city to where the car was parked. On a whim, Edward ran over to my Mom's house again just to see if the nomad had come back again. When he got back to the car, I was already inside it, the engine running, waiting for him.

"Anything?" I asked ask he slid fluidly into the butter soft black leather seats.

"Nothing at all. It's like he has disappeared," Edward said as he applied the accelerator and the car shot forward down the street.

"Somehow, I don't think that's what happened. He wanted us to know he was there,"

"Yes," Edward nodded his head. His eyes remained locked on the road ahead.

"He came back purposely, to taunt us," I added.

"Yes," Edward said, this time more quietly.

"He's playing with us," I finished.

This time Edward looked over at me and studied me long and hard for a moment. The car never wavered so much as an inch off it's path. The engine sounded like it was barely running though we were nearing ninety.

"Yes," Edward said again. This time it was so quiet my old human ears would never have heard it.

This whole situation was bothering Edward a lot more than he was letting on. I could understand why. It felt very much like the situation we'd endured just a couple years ago when Victoria had tried to kill me to satisfy her need to avenge her mate, James.

Victoria hadn't come after me herself except once or twice until the very end. Instead she'd used newborn vampires that she herself had created, and had drawn the attention of the Volturi to the Washington Peninsula in the process. She had known about Alice and Edward and their abilities and so had also known how to avoid doing something that would trigger alarm. It had been a very close battle when Victoria finally did attack with her newborns. What had decided it so much in our favor was the intervention of the werewolves. That was also when the Volturi arrived.

The Volturi. Could they have something to do with this? I couldn't place the appearance or the scent of the nomad with any of my memories with them; human or vampire. But that didn't necessarily mean anything. It seemed to me to be at least a possibility that they might not have been able to bring everyone with them when last they came to Forks. Or maybe they've recruited someone new since their visit. Or maybe they were calling in a favor. Who knew?

Watching Edward drive I thought about voicing my concerns to him. Then I decided against it. Where was the proof? Right now all I had was speculation. I filed the idea away into the back of my mind.

We parked in the hotel's guest parking area and walked into the main lobby. Since we weren't interested in anything on the main floor of the hotel, we turned towards the elevators. Then we stopped. The stairs would be faster, assuming no one else was using them.

Together we found the stairwell near the elevators. Edward opened the door and I followed him inside. And then there it was. We both froze completely still for a moment as the scent of the nomad washed over us. It was fresh, new, as if he had just been here in this stairwell just moments before us. A cold chill flowed down my spine. He knew where we were staying; his scent led upstairs.

Faster than I'd ever moved before, I was up the stairs and exiting them onto our floor. This was exactly where the nomad's scent led us.

"Carlisle," Edward said out loud.

It was in a normal tone of voice but it carried with it all the stress of the moment. At the far end of the long hall way, a door opened and Carlisle stepped out of it. While no human could have heard Edward more than a few feet away, Carlisle had heard him just fine. In a flash he was standing next to us. Then his eyes widened as he caught the scent of the nomad.

"What? Here?" Shock and surprise covered his features.

We flew down the hallway following the scent of the nomad. It ended at the door to Charlie's suite. Instantly my temper flared. How dare he come here and stand at the door of the room where my father slept? It took a moment for me to realize that I could hear two heartbeats on the other side of the door. Those heartbeats were steady and rhythmic. Charlie and Sue were inside that room. They were sleeping.

Except that the scent didn't go anywhere else, and no one passed Edward or I on the stairs. I reached out and tried the door. It didn't open. It was one of those that worked only by using a magnetic strip card key. I didn't have a key. Looking up at Edward, I could see that he was as confused as I was.

"He came here, but there is no scent that leads away from here,"

"Could he have retraced his steps?" Carlisle asked reasonably.

"I don't think that's what he did, but I suppose it's possible. What else could he have done?" Edward answered him.

Looking around the hallway, there was nothing there to give any clues as to what the nomad could have done or where he could have gone. I even looked up at the ceiling. Could that be possible? Could he have gotten up there and accessed my father's room that way?

"Bella?" Carlisle asked as he followed the direction where I was looking.

"I was just...thinking. What if he got into the room from up there?"

The ceiling was like the kind found in so many offices and hotels. Tiles over a supporting grid. It was a small matter of using the imperfections in the wall and door to climb up and take a closer look.

"Bella, Love, are you looking for something in particular?" Edward asked.

"I was just trying to see if the nomad had tried accessing Charlie's room from up there,"

"And did you find anything?" He asked as I leapt down as quietly as a feather falling.

"No, nothing at all. His scent just...stops here. I'm not sure what to make of it,"

"We need to get into that room," Edward said nodding slightly towards the door.

"Do we wake Charlie and Sue?" Carlisle asked, "I don't think they would take to kindly to finding out that someone hostile was just outside their door,"

"No, we get a key," Edward said with a ghost of a smile.

"And how do we do that?" I asked him, "Charlie and Sue would have their keys to the room."

"Easy, I'll just go downstairs and get one. It won't take but a minute," Edward said as he kissed me lightly and then disappeared back down the hall.

In less than a minute Edward was back. He was smiling as he brandished what looked like a credit card except that it was very non descript. It's only telling feature was a magnetic strip on one side. At my inquiring look he explained,

"It's a hotel master key. I took it from the front desk when no one was looking. This key opens any room in the hotel,"

Carlisle smiled and nodded, "That's a good idea. This way we can gain entry and you can return the key when we're finished exploring inside,"

Edward used the key and opened the door silently. We stepped into the suite and were immediately confronted again with the scent of the nomad. Without thinking, I dropped into a defensive crouch and hissed.

"He's been in here!"

"We know, Bella. We know. Let's go check on Charlie and Sue," Carlisle said as he placed a calming hand on my shoulder.

Straightening back up, we quietly stole into the room offset from the main suite. It was an awkward moment to see my dad in bed with someone other than my mom. I knew that he and Sue had a close relationship, but this was the first real proof of that, that I'd seen. It only took a moment to dispel moment as I realized that I'd grown used to seeing my Mom and Phil in the same bed together on those rare nights when I'd gone in there for one reason or another. This was no different.

Two things were evident in this room. Charlie and Sue were fine; we could hear their hearts beating regularly in their sleep. The other thing was that the nomad too had been in here. He'd stood next to the bed on Charlie's side. That was when Edward saw the note. It was tucked just under Charlie's pillow.

Removing the note from where the nomad had stashed it he held it up. It was a plain, white envelope. The only thing on it was the nomad's scent. There was nothing else. I knew in that moment that the nomad had led us here on purpose. He'd wanted us to see this. He wanted us to know that that Charlie wasn't safe.

We checked over the rest of the suite before leaving it and going back out into the hall. Carlisle led the way for us to go back into his suite where Esme was waiting. Edward disappeared momentarily to return the Master Key to the front desk.

Esme smiled at me as Carlisle and I entered the suite. It was only moments later that Edward joined us. Our suite, along with those being used by Carlisle and Esme and Charlie and Sue, were all laid out with a similar plan.

A living area, a separate bathroom, and then another separate bedroom. They were all very large and spacious. The decorating was as pleasant to look at as it was generic. Painted flowers, fruit, landscapes, and the like decorated the walls. They had dried or false flowers in vases on the tables, and a large screen TV against one wall. There was even a complimentary computer with internet access if you wanted to use it.

The computer was where we found Esme upon our entering the room. She had been surfing around online looking at properties in the area that were for sale. Except it looked like she'd stopped when Edward and I arrived on our floor and he called Carlisle's name. She stood up from what she was doing online and moved over to talk to us.

"What is it?" Esme asked, looking from Carlisle to me.

Edward entered the room at that point and we all moved over to where the couches were. Sitting down, Carlisle explained;

"It's him. The nomad. He's been here to the hotel; he was in Charlie's room,"

Surprised at what she'd heard, Esme turned to Edward and I; "Is Charlie...?"

"He and Sue are fine, they're both still sleeping," Edward answered as he pulled the note that had been left from out of his pocket.

"When we got back to my Mom's house, he'd been back. He waited for us to get there. He looks kind of like James did," I explained.

"We tried to track him, but it did no good. We covered a lot of ground but we never got closer to him than Renee's house.

"What's that?" Rene asked gesturing towards the note in Edward's hand.

"He left this behind under Charlie's pillow," He opened the envelope and removed the note inside.

The envelope and the paper the note was written on were on hotel provided stationary. The logo of the hotel was in the watermark on both the paper and the envelope. The writing on the note was in a tight, neat script. I read the note over Edward's shoulder even as he read it to us all. It read simply;

_"Just a note to say hello._

_You cannot run. You cannot hide. _

_I shall enjoy this._

_P"_

Cold chills ran down my spine. There was no doubt that he was targeting us. The question was why. Were I still human, I would be hyperventilating by now. As a vampire all this note did was arouse in me an anger such as I had never known before. I wanted to rise to this challenge. I wanted to fight. I wanted to win.

"We know that this wasn't some random event," Carlisle began, "I was hoping that maybe some hungry nomad was passing through the area and found the scent of Renee and Phil appealing the way you did when you first met Bella. That is clearly not the case."

"He's doing this on purpose, obviously," Edward said, anger in his eyes.

"But why? What's the purpose behind it?" asked Esme. She looked at each of us.

"The Volturi?" I ventured, "Could it be them?"

"I don't see how. They're most likely in Italy still trying to figure out how they lost their battle in Forks," Edward replied.

"Who else could it be?" Esme asked.

"I don't know, that is certainly on the top of my list of things to find out."

Not long after our discovery in Charlie and Sue's suite, they woke up. It wasn't long after he'd woken up that Charlie was showered, shaved, and ready to go back down to visit the Jacksonville Police Station. Sue was trying very hard to talk him out of it but wasn't making much progress. Finally Esme stepped in and suggested that Charlie and Sue go over to Renee's house to put her affairs in order. At this suggestion Charlie reluctantly agreed.

After a light breakfast he and Sue took their rental car over to my mom's house and started trying to make sense of everything. We left them to their own devices while we stayed at the hotel and discussed what our options were.

"If a nomad is hunting one of us, I'm really not comfortable staying here any longer than we absolutely have to," Carlisle said.

"We could bring the others out here," Esme suggested.

"We could, but Jacob would feel very out of place and you know that there's no way he would leave Nessie for that long," Edward answered as he pulled on a clean pullover.

"He would make the sacrifice though, especially if it meant being there for Nessie and Bella," Esme argued. She had also changed clothes into a simple turtle neck pull over and jeans. The clothes were non-descript but they were of designer origins. Alice would settle for nothing less.

I was listening to this conversation as I changed clothes myself. I wore a simple button up blouse with jeans myself. Stepping out into the main living area of our suite, I sat down on the couch and practiced behaving like a human. I teased a lock of my hair, blinked my eyes, shifted positions, practiced breathing regularly, it gave me an opportunity to think through things.

"What about the nomad? Do we want to fight him here?" Esme asked.

I could understand her worry. We were outside of the area we knew best; Forks. If someone wanted to strike out against us, it was easier for us to make our own stand if we could that stand together with others. As it was, the wolves were not going to take this new development with the nomad well at all. For that matter, neither would the four vampires we left at home. We needed to gather and regroup. As Jacob or even Sam would have said; what affects one of us affects us all.

Since the weather outside was still cloudy and overcast, we were able to leave the hotel and drive over to Renee's house. It was strange visiting there. The house was my mother's but it had never been mine. I had visited the place only one time, the memory of that visit was an awkward one because it was clouded by the fact that I was human at that time.

The odd thing was that even though the house wasn't mine, many of the things inside it were. Everything I'd left behind when I moved to Forks. There was my old bed, my dresser, blankets, pillow, clothes, my old computer, some assorted books, and other things that you acquire as you grow up and keep because they remind you of one thing or another. My ballet slippers from the all too brief time that I was taking lessons. Pictures I'd taken of Gran, Mom, Charlie, and others. Little gifts from friends I'd had in phoenix, all sorts of things.

We walked into the house to find Charlie and Sue sitting at the kitchen table. They had papers strewn all over in haphazardly stacked piles. I could read from where I stood what it was that they were looking at. There were billing statements, bank statements, information on a modest life insurance policy for each of them, a copy of their will...wait a second. A Will?

Since when did my erratic, hair brained, child-like mother have a will? That was new. That was a responsible step that she would never have taken on her own. Could it have been Phil?

He was like her in so many ways. This is why they were so good together and worked out in ways that Charlie and Renee could never have done. But he was more mature in other ways too. He would have been the one to remember to do things like pay the bills, do the shopping, and remind her about things like doctor appointments. Would setting up a last will and testament been in keeping with that? I wasn't so sure.

"Oh Bella, you're here. Good. Charlie has something to show you," Sue said as she looked up and noticed us coming into the house.

I turned towards my dad and looked at him, "You do?"

Charlie's eyes glanced towards Sue before he replied; "Well, kind of. It's more that your mother had something for you and I've found it,"

He held up the paper in his hands. It was the will I'd seen and had just been questioning. "Except for a few things that Phil wanted to be sent to his parents and brother, everything else was left for you,"

"Everything?" I asked. This was a little overwhelming.

"Everything. The house, the car, all of it. Phil left his parents some pictures and a few personal items, the same as he did for his brother," Charlie explained.

"What am I going to do with it all?" I hadn't really intended for anyone to answer me. It was more a rhetorical question than anything else. However that didn't stop anyone from making their opinions known.

"You don't have to decide that now," Edward ventured, "Just keep the taxes paid up on it and you can decide what to do with the house when you're ready."

Nodding his head, Charlie added; "You can sell the place if you want to. It's a nice little house in a decent neighborhood; someone is bound to want it,"

"Real Estate also makes a good investment," Carlisle added.

Hearing that made me smile. I seemed to remember Edward saying those very words to me, or something similar, around the time we were married.

"You don't have to decide about the house right now, Bella. Take some time to think it over," Edward said.

"He's right. You have all the time in the world to decide what you want to do here. Don't worry about this now," Esme added.

"What about all the other stuff? The clothes, and furniture and all of that?" Sue asked.

An idea hit me, "Is there anything that you wanted, Sue? Or you, Dad?" I asked them.

I knew that the Clearwaters had very little money coming in. The death of Sue's husband, Harry just a few short years ago had really done a number on their finances.

"Some of Renee's things might fit Leah," Sue hesitated.

"Why don't we box up the clothes and stuff like that and we can have it shipped up to the reservation? Then those who might be able to use those things can have them." I suggested.

Esme was smiling widely when she heard this. It felt good to contribute, even if it was in some small way.

"Why don't you take what you want first? Then you can ship the rest." Charlie advised.

Edward turned towards me and whispered very quietly, "He thinks you're acting too fast and getting rid of things now that you might wish you hadn't later,"

This was getting frustrating. I wanted to be done with it all. Alice would never let me wear any of the clothes, I knew that. And to be honest while my style and my mothers were more compatible than what Alice's style was for me, I wasn't sure I wanted any of the clothes.

"You can take anything you want," Edward told me with a tender smile.

"Besides the clothes, was there anything you wanted, Dad? Any pictures or anything like that?"

Charlie suddenly looked like he was feeling very awkward. He glanced at Sue and looked away quickly. That was when I realized my mistake. I had put him in an awkward position. He didn't want to hurt Sue's feelings.

She seemed to understand. Very quickly she reached out and took Charlie in her arms, which I knew would really make him feel uncomfortable. Sue ignored this as she told him quietly, "It's okay. You two had a life together and you had a child. Just like you didn't expect me to forget Harry and what we had, neither to I expect you to forget Renee. If there's something you want, then take it. It really is okay with me,"

Esme was smiling when she heard Sue say this to my dad. I understood why. Esme had a great capacity for love and compassion. Seeing this would have resonated with her deeply.

After agreeing grudgingly that there might be a few keepsakes he'd like to hang on to, Charlie and Sue started walking through the house slowly. As they went from room to room, the rest of us sat down in the living room to wait.

Later that afternoon we all piled into our respective cars to go back to the hotel. Charlie and Sue were ordering dinner from their suite and the rest of us were going to go hunting before joining them back at the hotel to go over the day's events.

On the pretext of going back to our car for something he'd forgotten, Edward quickly picked Charlie's pocket for his room key-card and ran upstairs to check over their suite and make sure that it was safe for them to return to. Once he'd done this, Edward ran back downstairs and caught up with us just as we were entering the elevator.

His acting was superb as he feigned being out of breath from running to our car and back.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Charlie asked him with a half smile at Edward's huffing and puffing.

"No, I guess I must have left that jacket in our room. I'll have to look when we get up there," Edward answered him smoothly.

"Nothing in the car?" Carlisle asked casually.

"No, I didn't see anything there," Edward reaffirmed.

The elevator stopped at our floor. Charlie and Sue took a moment to say their thanks and express their appreciation to us all for joining them at Renee's house. Carlisle and Esme were very gracious and charitable with their responses.

Once the door was closed, we moved on to our own suites. Unlike Charlie and Sue's, ours, mine and Edward's, and Carlisle and Esme's were connected by a door between them. We opened up the door between our suite and Edward and I entered into the one where Carlisle and Esme were staying.

"Charlie and Sue will probably be awhile," Edward said thoughtfully, "Should we do a little hunting?"

"What is there to hunt in Florida?" Esme asked.

"We could go find a shark," I suggested. Carlisle smile and Edward rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Bella, please, don't be absurd,"

"Please Edward? I think it could be fun," I tried cajoling him.

"How about we find something else for this hunt? Humor me, please," He replied.

"Fine, then I think we should try hunting Alligator. There's plenty of them, and you know that they can't hurt me. Is there a problem with hunting Alligator?" I asked.

"For you, Love, we can hunt Alligator," Edward agreed.

"I'm not sure you'll like it, Bella," Carlisle cautioned.

"What do you mean?"

"Its not like hunting a mountain lion or a bear, the flavor of it will be very different than anything you're used to,"

"Have you hunted Alligator before?" I asked.

Carlisle's easy smile widened as he answered my question, "Only once. It really wasn't to my taste,"

"There's plenty of deer of course and Florida does have a large population of wild pigs. We can always find one or two of those," Edward offered.

Feeling defeated I sighed, "Fine, lets go find some wild pigs,"

"They're a lot more dangerous than an alligator," Edward said as he wrapped an arm around me, "They have razor sharp tusks and a nasty disposition. I know that those who hunt them have a lot of respect for them,"

I knew that Edward was trying to placate me. He knew I wanted to keep trying my wings and discover my limitations. What could I do? I smiled at him, "That sounds like it might be fun,"

Carlisle and Esme laughed quietly as they stood up to go.

"Really Bella, who would have thought that you'd have become such a thrill seeker once you became a vampire?" Esme remarked.

"When you live your human life as uncoordinated as I did, it makes you want to see what you can really do when a lack of grace is no longer a problem," I explained as I hugged my mother in law.

Two hours later we were walking back into the hotel. It didn't take very long to drive out into the country side and from there our natural instincts took over. Within minutes we had found a large grouping of wild hogs. That grouping had been reduced in number by about seven hogs.

Now we were fed and happy. By now I had gotten used to that kind of sloshy feeling that drinking dinner from two whole animals gave me. I decided that wild hog wasn't nearly as bad as deer or elk. Carlisle reasoned that it was because hogs and humans were so similar in many ways, their blood might be more compatible to our lifestyle than the blood of ungulates.

As we retired to our suites, Charlie and Sue joined us for a little while. They had been talking about what they wanted to take back to Forks. I was interested to hear what it was that Charlie had to say.

"Well, I found some fishing equipment that Phil had. I don't think he ever used it, it all looks so new. If you don't mind, I'd like to take that,"

"Sure thing, Dad. No problem. Was there anything else?" I asked him with a smile.

Leave it to Charlie to discover Phil's nearly untouched fishing gear.

"Well, there are a couple pictures that I'd like to have. Some of them are of you as a baby or as a young kid. They're ones I don't have already. There's a couple of us as a family, that kind of thing," Charlie said looking at the floor.

Knowing well his difficulties when it came to talking about things like this, I realized that these pictures must really mean a lot to him. My eyes pricked a little as I told him, "Absolutely Dad, I want you to have them,"

"If you don't want any of the clothes, I'd like to see if there isn't anyone on the reservation that can't use them," Sue said quietly.

Nodding at her I answered, "That's fine with me,"

"Bella," Edward said quietly, "These things were left to you. What was there that you wanted?"

"I don't know, maybe a few things. Some pictures, maybe some other things..." I said suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"Bells, Edward is right. This stuff is yours first. You take what you want. Then you can decide what to do with the rest of it," Charlie added.

"I know that, it's just..." "Just what?" Carlisle prompted.

I looked around the luxurious and spacious suite. Everyone in the room was looking at me and I knew that what I was feeling was ludicrous but I couldn't help myself.

"It's just that I feel like by taking her things, that I really am saying goodbye. Like she really is gone,"

Immediately Esme's arms were around me and she pulled me into her chest in a motherly embrace.

"Then take those things that will best help you to remember her," She crooned.

That started me thinking about what it would be that I would want to take. Some things were easy. I had a couple blankets that meant a lot to me because they were made by my Gran and my Mom. There was a cookbook of family recipes that I would take, even though there was nothing in them that I would eat ever again. A few books would go with me as well as a handful of pictures and a stuffed animal or two. I could decide later about everything else.

When I announced this to Charlie and Edward, my decision was met with smiles and looks of relief.

The rest of that evening was spent in the suite with Charlie telling stories. Most of them were about me when I was really young. Once again I was grateful for no longer having the ability to blush anymore.

There was much laughter and even a tear or two shed as he regaled us with his memories. He told of the time I was potty trained, much to my embarrassment, and how I would get disgusted with myself when my diapers were in need of a change.

Since he was gone so much, at that time being a policeman, and since Renee wasn't the most observant parent, I'd taken to potty training really well. This was a big relief to him.

Charlie then went on to talk about some of the crazier things I'd done as a young child. My disastrous attempts at going fishing with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater, some of the first attempts I'd made at cooking for him. He did say though how much better my cooking was than my mother's had been. She had been rather adventurous in her cooking endeavors, I remembered that pretty well.

When they finally retired to bed (Edward having again slipped out of the room to make sure it was safe for them first), we turned our attention back to the nomad and the problem at hand.

"I feel so open here," I commented.

Esme nodded her agreement, "Its different in Forks. At least there we have Rosalie and Alice, Emmett and Jasper and the wolves. If someone wants to come for us, there's a lot that they would have to do to do it,"

"I don't like the thought of someone hunting Bella's family so openly. It's like they have no fear of the possible reprisals their actions could incur," Carlisle said as he peeked out the window.

Edward was pacing the room. I could see his muscles playing under his skin as he walked back and forth. "Or that they know that whatever they do won't draw any repercussions from Italy,"

"Edward, do you really think the Volturi could be involved?" Carlisle asked, "After last year? Do you really think they would act so soon?"

"Maybe not Aro. I could see him biding his time. But Jane or Caius, yes, I could see them not wanting to wait," Edward said quietly.

I told them all about the thoughts I'd had previously about the Volturi being behind this nomad and his attack on my Mother and her husband. They listened carefully to me and thought about what I'd told them for several moments before anyone ventured to say anything.

"I have a hard time seeing Aro sanction something like this. All he would have to do is to touch Jane or Caius to know that they were up to something,"

"Could it be someone else? Who?" Esme asked.

That was the question. Right now there seemed to be more questions than answers. And answers were something we needed to figure this out and end it. We needed them now before anyone else could get hurt. We needed them fast.


	4. Ch 4 Home again

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Author's Note:** Simply put- this is Twilight and what is happening to the Cullen Coven a year after the events in Breaking Dawn. Any mistakes in timeline, names, locations, etc are my own. This is not a romance story per se. It is just one interpretation of how the story of Edward and Bella Cullen might continue. As always with any of my works, I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank You.

**Chapter 4**

Coming back home to Forks was a quiet affair. Charlie and I had each packed up a box of things we wanted to take with us. The rest was put into storage and the house was put up for sale.

Charlie and Edward had helped to convince me that selling the house was a good idea. It's not that we needed the money, more that Charlie couldn't afford to keep up a house three thousand miles from home and Florida itself, known for its sun, wasn't someplace that would be easy for us to live in for any length of time.

With Edward and Carlisle's help, we were able to find a reputable agent to list the house with. It didn't take too long since it was paid for and I was in possession of the deed to the property.

We got back to Forks to be greeted by both my family and Jacob's pack. There were a lot of smiles and hugs given but what worried me was when Edward stiffened when he was close enough to hear Alice's thoughts.

"What is it?" I asked him.

He shook his head and tipped it ever so slightly towards Charlie, "Not now,"

"Edward..."

"Bella, please. You'll know soon enough,"

I could tell by the tone of his voice that I would lose any argument with him. So like he did I put on a happy face as I greeted Jacob, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Alice, and; "Nessie! Come see me! You're getting so big,"

My daughter crawled up into my arms and put her hand to my cheek. I could sense and feel her excitement and overwhelming happiness at Edward and I being home again. Her next image was one of Charlie. There was a questioning feel to it.

"He's doing okay. He's excited to see you too," I told her.

As if on cue, Charlie came over with an excited, "Hey Nessie! Your grandpa sure missed you. Were you a good kid while we were away?"

"Yes, Grandpa. I was good." She reassured him.

Charlie pulled a small sack that he'd packed into his carry-on luggage. In it was a nice little snow-globe and a large sand-dollar. Nessie smiled excitedly at his gifts and reached out to give him a hug.

Though she was getting a little too big to be carried, she let Charlie pull her into his arms and carry her through the airport and out into the parking area. As we were walking I noticed that Edward and Alice seemed to be in a deep conversation. Except that not a single word of it was verbal.

I felt the heat from Jacob's body as he sidled up next to me. His eyes never left Renesmee as he leaned in a little closer and spoke next to my ear. Even though he was still several inches away, I had no problems hearing or understanding him.

"Welcome back. She did really well while you were gone. By the end of the first day though she was wanting to know when you'd be back,"

"Why didn't you call us? We would have talked to her,"

"We were going to. But really every time we thought about it, something else came up. There's been a couple interesting developments,"

Instantly Edward was next to us. He gave Jacob a meaningful look as he said, "Not here. Not now. This can wait until we get home,"

Jacob nodded. I saw Carlisle and Esme glance back at us as we were walking. Clearly they had heard Jacob and Edward talking too.

Once we got out of the airport we all piled into our vehicles and headed home. Charlie and Sue rode back to Forks together while Edward, Renessme, Alice, Jasper, Jacob, and I all piled into the large SUV that Edward had purchased not long after the events with the Volturi. It was big and heavy enough to withstand a lot of abuse. But that's not why Edward bought it. He bought it because it would allow any number of us to ride together with Nessie and Jacob in the car along with the occasional member of his pack.

As Jasper drove with Alice sitting next to him in the front seat, she turned around and started speaking. She spoke quickly and made it clear that something had her concerned.

"Edward, did you find anything in Jacksonville?"

"You didn't call Carlisle?"

"No, but then none of you ever called us either. Could you answer my question please?"

Alice was almost never this short with anyone, especially Edward.

"What happened, Alice?" I asked looking at her eyes.

Her eyes never waived from Edward's. He looked at her but spoke to me. His lips were tight as he spoke; "Something has happened here and it's related to what we found down there,"

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"You did find something then," Alice stated with a nod, "I knew it,"

Edward's eyebrows rose in surprise, "You didn't see it?"

"No, I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary. I saw the funeral. I saw Charlie down at the Jacksonville Police Station and Bella selling her mother's house, but it was different. Disjointed. It was definitely not like anything I've ever experienced before,"

"So how did you know that something happened down there?" I asked feeling a little confused.

"It wasn't what I saw, it's what I didn't see that caught my attention. I saw you all talking. I saw you going about the things that I would expect if you were at a funeral and tying up loose ends. But you never called Nessie. You never called us. And then I saw you doing funny things like climbing a wall and jumping down again for no apparent reason. I saw you and Edward running around Florida but it was all different. Not like I usually see things at all,"

That made some sense. Alice was good at putting together puzzles like this. It made sense to me that she would realize that something was off. She continued on and what she said next had my attention riveted on her and nothing else. It made my blood run cold.

"Then while Jasper and I were out hunting we came across a new trail. It was vampire, but not anyone that we recognized. Their trail led straight to Charlie's place,"

"WHAT?" I shrieked.

Nessie jumped. She'd been half asleep in Edward's arms.

"Mama?" She asked.

"Sh Love, it's okay. Your mom just heard something that surprised her, that's all,"

"That's where we came in. Alice found Seth and told him what she and Jasper found," Jacob interjected now, "As soon as we caught the scent we started trying to find out what was going on. Whoever it was just seemed to appear out of nowhere. We tracked out from the house for a good distance before we realized something,"

My hand flew to my mouth before I could shout again, "He came in over the rooftops, didn't he?"

I saw Jasper glance at me in the mirror, "You figured that out very fast. I take it this is what you experienced in Florida?"

"It is," Edward answered, the look in his eyes was cold and calculating.

"Did anyone check Charlie's house?" I asked suddenly.

"Why? The only scent we found was on the ground outside," Jacob asked.

"The rooftops, Jacob," Edward explained, "If he came in over the rooftops, he could have easily entered Charlie's house from there. Jasper..."

"I know, Edward, I'm already on it."

We could feel the SUV accelerate underneath us as Jasper applied the gas. Charlie had left only minutes before we did, but we would reach his house long before him. Once there, we would do a quick scouting of the house and the roof in particular. Not that we needed it, but I remembered that I even had the key to Charlie's house in my wallet. I'd kept a spare there ever since I'd moved here, just in case.

About a block away from his house, Edward and I jumped out of the SUV. We ran quickly through the forest that was behind the houses and came out in the back yard at Charlie's not far from the trail where Edward had once broken up with me.

I saw him glance unhappily at the trail as we silently and quickly stole up to the house. More easily than I'd have ever thought possible, we were up the wall and through the unlocked window and into my old bedroom. It looked rather lonely and bare with most of my belongings gone from it. Charlie had left the bed, desk, old computer, and dresser where they were. But there was something else in my room that wasn't there before; the scent of our Nomad.

My eyes widened in shock and fear. He'd been here. In my house. In my room. We searched through the house quickly, following his trail. He'd gone into every room. It was in my Dad's room that we found something else. It was another note.

The phone in Edward's pocket buzzed. He picked it up and held it to his ear.

"Yes, we're in the house now," He looked at me while he concentrated on what Alice was telling him, "No, we've been inside almost the entire time,"

Didn't Alice see us going into the house?

"Yes, he's been here. He left a note," Edward looked at it and hissed.

"No, we need to get out of here before Charlie gets here. One thing we'll need to do though. We'll need to step up our guard here,"

Surprised at hearing Edward's comment, I glanced at the note in my hand and gasped again. It had been written on stationary from the hotel in Jacksonville where we had stayed. The handwriting was the same. The tenor of the note just as menacing as it had been in Florida. It read;

_You didn't really think you would escape me by coming back here, did you?_

_My fun is just beginning._

_P_

"...not sure, Alice. Maybe it's his ability. Whatever it is, he won't put Charlie or Sue or anyone else in any danger. We'll make sure of it," Edward ended the call.

"Edward, it's him,"

"I know, Love. I know," Edward came and put his arms around me, pulling me in close to him, "We'll get this all sorted out, I promise you,"

This was beginning to be too much. He'd already killed my mom and now it looked as though his sights were set firmly on my Dad. What did he have against me? What possible reason could this nomad have for trying to hurt me like this?

"We need to go, Charlie will be here soon," Edward breathed into my hair.

Nodding absently, we left as quickly as we came. Getting back to the waiting SUV, we were hardly inside a moment before Jasper was moving again. It took only one look at my face for Jacob to ask in a deeply concerned voice, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"This," I handed him the note.

Alice was staring at me with a fearful look in her amber eyes, "He was there? Inside Charlie's house?"

Edward looked out the window as his mind raced, "Yes,"

Reading the note quickly, Alice's eyes widened and then she exhaled hard. Like she had suffered some kind of physical blow.

"Alice?" Jasper asked his concern clearly evident in his voice.

"Alice?" Edward turned towards her now, also concerned.

"I never saw him. Not here, not in Jacksonville, not anywhere..." She looked like she was almost in pain.

"No one blames you," Edward told her, "You're doing everything you can. We know that,"

With eyes wide and beseeching, she peeked at me from behind her seat, "I'm so sorry, Bella,"

This was the last thing I expected to hear. Why should Alice be telling me she was sorry? "I'm not mad at you, Alice. How could I be?"

"I should have seen him..."

"How could you have? I thought Renee was safe in Florida. I think we all did. No one thought that she would need any protection..."

"But here? What about that? This...this nomad came in and got into your Dad's house. He did it right under our noses!" Alice argued plaintively.

"I don't think any of us expected that. Especially with Bella and Edward in Jacksonville," Jacob weighed in.

"We've become too complacent," Jasper postulated, "We thought we were protected. Between us and the wolves, no one thought anyone would try anything,"

"I'll talk to Sam and see what we can do to run some spokes out. See if we can't cross his scent somewhere," Jacob added.

He turned to look at Renesmee who had fallen asleep tucked in tightly between Edward and I. She was oblivious to all the drama going on around her.

"She doesn't know anything," Jacob said quietly.

"Nor should she," Edward added with conviction.

I only nodded my head in agreement. Barely a year had passed since the last time she was in danger. Even though that was long past now, Renesmee was still affected by it. Sometimes she woke up from her sleep having nightmares.

Carlisle said that this kind of thing was entirely normal for a child who had experienced anything traumatic. Even though no one had been killed, it had come very close. Close enough that I'd had to tell my daughter that she may never see her mother or father again. Close enough that I'd gone to the steps of putting her on Jacob's back and telling her that when the time came she was to run and that Jacob would take care of her.

Even now, still, she would wake up and immediately search for us. Edward, who could see what she was thinking, would hear her nightmares when they happened and he would then go into her room and sing softly to her. Sometimes Jacob would come to our cottage in his wolf form and curl up at the foot of her bed at night. She was quite literally the safest child in the world. Or at least she had been...

The feeling that my daughter, our daughter, might not be completely safe again welled up inside me. It was overwhelming me with the implication that someone could strike so close to home with seeming impunity.

"Bella?" Jacob asked me quietly.

"I'm fine Jacob," I lied to him.

I most certainly was not fine. First my mom and now my dad. If I had to I would stand guard over his house myself. This "P" person, this one who thought he could come here and hurt _my _family, he would find he was wrong. Gravely wrong. I intended to make sure of that. I owed him this much. Especially after what he'd done to my mother.

We got back to the house and pulled into the garage. Edward accompanied me to our cottage so that I could put the box of things I'd brought home from my mother's house away. I would go through it later when Nessie was asleep.

Jacob had to leave to go back home. He was really resenting his sister being there and keeping him from seeing Renesmee as much as he wanted to. He promised he would be back later after he'd put in his appearance and had taken some time to talk to Sam.

So to disturb her as little as possible, Jasper and Alice took Nessie into the house with them where Carlisle and Esme were only too happy to be with her. Rosalie and Emmett were all smiles when they saw her as well.

While at the cottage, Edward was standing against the door to our closet as he watched me idly sort through the box before I put it on the closet shelf.

"What's on your mind, my love?"

I could have just told him. However there was so much there that it would have taken a long time to put it into words and I really didn't feel like trying to just then. So, I closed my eyes and pushed out from my mind. When I heard his slight intake of breath I knew that he was seeing and hearing my thoughts.

Holding the connection for as long as I could, I let him know in ways that talking couldn't every thought, feeling, speculation, and worry that was on my mind. Through it all was the grief at losing my mom, the worry I had over losing my Dad now, and this latest worry about Nessie on top of my worries for the safety of everyone else around us who mattered to me.

When I felt like I couldn't comfortably hold the connection open any longer, I let it close and instantly his arms were around me. Comforting me. Holding me close to him.

"We won't let anyone come to harm. Not Charlie, certainly not our daughter, nor anyone else." He breathed gently into my ear.

"How can we stop him?" I whispered out loud.

"I don't know yet, Bella. But we _will_ find a way,"

We made it back to the house in time to see Sam talking to Carlisle. They were standing on the front porch; Sam's arms were crossed on his chest. He seemed to be listening as our 'father' was speaking to him.

"...appreciate the wolves helping keep a watch over Charlie," Carlisle was saying.

"Sue's part of the tribe. Where she is, we'll be. Besides that Charlie has always been like family to the Blacks and very reasonable about the tribe. While he may not have always agreed with our...politics, he always gave us his respect. We feel an obligation to him for that," Sam said quietly.

"He's understating his feelings on this. Apparently your Dad has been very respectful of the tribe when some of the youth come into town and get into trouble. Two of their newest wolves were caught by Charlie before they turned. Charlie was good with them and Sam feels obligated," Edward whispered into my ear.

"Charlie did all that?" I felt a little stunned; it seemed that I didn't really know my own father.

"Charlie takes the tribe and their laws and customs very seriously. I noticed that before you came here. He has always dealt very fairly with them. That's one reason I think why he and Billy Black are such good friends," Edward explained.

We joined Sam and Carlisle on the porch. Sam smiled at us politely and then looking directly at me he said; "I've assigned two of the wolves to watch Charlie's place. There will be more running in the woods nearby. We won't let anyone get through again,"

Smiling now at Sam that I understood him a little better, it was easier to thank him for what he and the wolves were doing.

"Don't mention it, Bella. He's going to be just as much a part of our family as he is yours. We don't turn our backs on family," Sam smiled back.

We spent a few brief minutes talking to Sam and then we went on into the house while Sam returned to the reservation.

"Who did he send to watch over Charlie anyway?" I asked as we took seats in the living room.

"Seth and Leah volunteered. They were a logical choice anyway. With it being their mother in there so much, their senses will be highly attuned to anything that goes wrong," Carlisle answered.

"Carlisle, do you have any idea who could be doing this?" I asked him.

He shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry Bella, I've no idea who this nomad is,"

Esme came walking into the room at this point with Nessie holding her hand. My thoughts turned towards my daughter whose safety once again seemed to be in question.

Nessie came forward and looked at Edward hopefully, "Daddy, can we play the piano?"

Playing the piano was a joy that she shared with her father. Edward, ever the patient teacher, was showing her how to play my lullaby note by careful note. Nessie enjoyed the lessons immensely and her careful study she had become quite good with what she'd learned.

She could read music easily enough but very much preferred it when her father showed her how to play. It was one of Edward's favorite activities to do with our daughter. "Of course, what are we playing?"

"Mama's Lullaby," She grinned at me.

It was hard not to smile back at her. Edward got up from the couch and together the two of them went to his piano and began to play. Emmett and Rosalie came downstairs listening to the music. Rosalie, who was also an accomplished player, fingering the notes in the air that the other two were playing with perfect precision.

They sat down and set up for a game of chess.

"Where's Alice and Jasper?" I asked suddenly realizing their absence.

"They went to hunt. Alice still feels very badly that she didn't see this nomad," Esme answered.

"But that's not her fault," I argued.

"She knows that, deep down I think," Carlisle answered with a smile, "She also knows how much we rely on her and what she sees and it affects her deeply when something happens that she doesn't see coming,"

I thought about that for a minute. It was silly for Alice to blame herself about this. She didn't see anything, that's not a crime. "It's too bad Eleazar isn't here," I thought out loud.

Esme turned and looked at me questioningly, "Eleazar? Why?"

"Of course!" Carlisle exclaimed, "Good idea, Bella."

"Since his ability is to sense the ability of others, maybe we can find out what this nomad's true abilities are," I answered with a smile.

"That's assuming he has them," Emmett said from across the room.

"I think we'll find that he does," Edward said from next to Nessie at the piano.

"I'm with Edward on that one. He found my mother very quickly, he found our house here quickly enough too. Not to mention that Alice doesn't or can't see him. I think that's where his abilities will lie," I replied.

Carlisle got up and stepped out of the room, he had his cell phone in his hand as he left. Watching him go, I speculated some more, "I still think the Volturi is behind this,"

"Bella, how can they be? They just left and it's only been a year. They may not have liked having to leave the way they did, but still they left. I'm sure it will be ages before we see or hear from them again.

"But how else would anyone know where my mother lives? Or that she's even related to me?" I argued.

"But the how would the Volturi know where your mother lives?" Emmett asked.

"They know," Edward answered, "Aro would have seen it in my mind last year. He would have been able to see exactly where she lives and Charlie as well,"

"I think Alice would have seen that, Edward. Don't you?" Rosalie remarked.

"She might have seen it if the Volturi were to try something, yes. Don't forget Rosalie, Aro knows Alice's gifts better than she knows them herself. That means he knows the holes in her vision and would know how to use or exploit them,"

"So do you think the Volturi are involved then, Edward?" Esme asked him.

"I don't know if they're involved directly or not. It could be someone with them who is working on their own or calling in a debt,"

"But why would the Volturi do this?" Esme asked, "It doesn't make sense?"

"Humiliation is a powerful motivator," Edward answered.

"Humiliation?"

"Sure. Esme, last year the Volturi were made to look bad in front of a lot of people. Not only that, there are some of them who were very unhappy with the way things turned out. Jane in particular. Every time she tried to use her power, Bella blocked her. She was made to look useless. I'm sure its not something that she would have appreciated,"

There was some more discussion on the topic but I didn't participate much more. My thoughts were on Jane. Could she be capable of doing something like this? More to the point, would she do something like this? Without the permission of Caius or Aro? I could easily see Caius authorizing it but I wasn't sure of Aro.

Carlisle came walking back into the room looking satisfied, "Eleazar and Carmen will be here in the morning," He announced.

The sounds of the piano playing stopped and Renessme came bounding into the room; "Eleazar and Carmen? Are Tanya and Kate coming with them?" she asked excitedly.

"Not this time, Nessie."

Nessie's face clouded momentarily with disappointment. She put her hand on Carlisle's face and after a moment he responded, "I'm sure that they'll be more than happy to see you. They will be anxious to see how much you've grown,"

She smiled at hearing this and then turned to look at me, "Momma, I'm thirsty. Can we go hunting?"

Looking over at Edward, he smiled at me and then turned to face her; "We haven't eaten in a couple days either. Why don't we all go hunting together?"

Nessie's smile radiated brightly from her face. I got up from the couch and joined Edward and Nessie at the door. Together we ran through the forests surrounding our home and into the deeper parts where humans didn't often go.

It wasn't long until we were on the scent of a small herd of black tailed deer. We followed that scent deeper into the forest until we saw them at the other end of a clearing. They were standing there looking in our direction but not otherwise moving.

With three great strides and a sudden leap, Nessie was darting through the air and landed on the back of the one she had selected. Her teeth were at the animals throat over an artery and she was drawing blood to quench her thirst before the other animals even registered that she was there.

Panicked now, they started to move away quickly, but not before Edward and I both were able to take one down and begin to feed. I had become much more adept at feeding now. I didn't make a mess of things the way that I had when I fed for the first time.

My deer was drained of its blood long before my thirst was sated. I wanted more. Acting more on instinct now, I began to reach out with my senses. Looking and listening, and smelling my surroundings for what prey might have been close by.

There. A bear. An older one from the sounds of his heart and breathing. He was just past the prime of his life. The old boar had woken up from hibernation and was hungry. He wouldn't be alive long enough to find a meal.

Making sure that Edward had care of Nessie, I bolted for the next part of my meal. Taking him was even easier than the deer. He didn't move as fast or as well as they did. It hardly seemed fair to end the old bear's life.

I had my teeth through his tough old skin and felt his warm, salty blood flood into my mouth. My feeding was going well and I could feel as well as hear the animals' heart as it started to give out. That's when I heard something that made me stop mid feed, and if I had blood of my own still running in my veins, it would have run cold.

The howl of wolves. First a couple, then more. They were howling a pleading, sorrowful, heart-wrenching sound that gave me cause to stop what I was doing and search out my husband and child. Once they were found I knew just looking at Edward's face that he'd heard the tone of the howls too.

Something was very wrong.

Quickly slinging Renessme up onto his back, Edward took my hand and together we ran as fast as we could back home. Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle were standing on the porch looking in the direction of the Quilleute reservation. The looks on their faces must have matched ours.

"It took you a minute to get back," Emmett noted, "How far out were you?"

"Almost to the northern side of the penninsula," Edward answered automatically.

"Do we know what's happened?" I asked.

"No, nothing yet. Should we go and offer our assistance?" Esme asked looking worried. There were more than a few of the wolves that she had grown fond of.

"Not yet," Carlisle cautioned, "There are still many members of the tribe who aren't comfortable with us. They might see our presence there as a threat,"

"I'm going," I announced.

I didn't care if there were members of the tribe who weren't comfortable with us. The wolves stood with us last year and had been willing to die right along with us as well. I felt we owed it to them to be there for them.

"I'll go with you," Edward said. He gently pulled Nessie off his shoulders and urged her up the steps.

"I better go with you too," Carlisle added thoughtfully, "Maybe there's something there that I can help with,"

Together we ran for the reservation. Jumping the river that marked the boundary line, we slowed down and tracked the sounds of the howling wolves. That it hadn't abated or changed tone worried me. Something must be dreadfully wrong.

We followed first the sound, then the scent of the wolves to the sight of an old, forgotten logging camp. There were stacks of logs that were rotting away in the constant rains of the Olympic Penninsula and in between them was the wolf pack. All of them, even Jacob was there.

We leaped up on top of one of the log stacks as we got close and Edward froze. There was a look of shock and dismay that crossed his god-like features.

"What is it son? What's wrong?" Carlisle asked him, his and on Edward's shoulder.

"Its one of the wolves, a young one. One of the newest in the pack. He's been attacked..."

"Attacked?" Carlisle asked disbelievingly, "How?"

"By one of us. A vampire. The wolf is dead!" Edward's eyes were locked with mine.

The nomad had struck again. This time he had killed one of the wolves of Sam's pack. Since Alice couldn't see the wolves, there was no way she could have seen this coming. Still that was little comfort to us because the attack would do something else as well.

The attack would make those wolves who already had such a hard time trusting us, distrust us even more. The members of the tribe would have a hard time separating us from the one who killed one of their own.

No wonder why no one came running to meet us when we crossed the border. Things in Forks for us and the wolves just got made much more difficult.


	5. Ch 5 Charlie's upset

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Author's Note:** Simply put- this is Twilight and what is happening to the Cullen Coven a year after the events in Breaking Dawn. Any mistakes in timeline, names, locations, etc are my own. This is not a romance story per se. It is just one interpretation of how the story of Edward and Bella Cullen might continue. As always with any of my works, I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank You.

**Chapter 5**

We stood and observed the wolves as they howled and shared their grief. We of course knew nothing more than what Edward was reading in their minds. Given the way I understood the pack mind to work, that had to be a very confused thing right now.

My heart hurt for them. I wanted so much to jump down there and to comfort all of them. However given what we knew about the situation, that would be a less than helpful thing to do right now.

It would be more likely that I would be attacked than welcomed. Even if I were still human. They were in their wolf mindset. It would be better to give them some time before approaching them.

As it turned out, they noticed us first. It was Leah. I saw her look up at us and within a second we had the attention of all of them.

"Jacob says we need to go down there and talk to them," Edward told us.

Silently we agreed and leapt the easy thirty yards from our position up high on the log pile to where they stood on the ground some distance away. We landed lightly close to them and Jacob came to greet us with Sam, Leah, and Seth right behind him. There was no sign of any kind of hostility from anyone except what we usually received from Leah and one or two of the others anyway.

"They know it wasn't any of us," Edward said causally as he relaxed.

Looking directly at Jacob, Carlisle asked; "Can you tell us what happened?"

Edward was listening intently to the thoughts of Jacob as he explained everything. He gave Edward a meaningful look that caused him to nod.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The young one was hunting on his own in the deep woods. He was well south of Forks and he came across a bull elk. He was stalking it when he was attacked. He never saw it coming," Edward explained.

Something then occurred to me in that moment, "Edward, if Seth and Leah are here, whose watching Charlie?"

Awareness dawned in Edward's eyes then they unfocused for a moment. He must have been listening because when he answered there was relief in his voice.

"Seth says that Charlie accompanied Sue to the reservation. She wants to make him dinner. He'll be safe there,"

A profound sense of relief washed over me then. I had put Charlie through hell on earth more than once. I owed it to him to protect him. Especially since now what dangers he unknowingly faced were from my world, not his.

Not only that; I loved him. He was my father and the only family that I had left. Losing him now so soon after my mother was not a thought that I cared to entertain. Even though he was human and would some day meet a human fate, I wanted him with me now. I wanted him for as long as I could have him. Now more than ever.

"Jacob says not to worry about Charlie. Someone will be watching him every second. No one will get close to him, Sue, or anyone else. The wolves are on high alert," Edward said seconds later.

I leaned up against my husband and smiled gratefully at my best friend, "Thanks, Jake,"

The large russet wolf dipped his head once in response to me.

"Do you know which way he was going?" Carlisle asked,

"No," Edward answered for the wolves, "There was no scent near where it happened. It was like he just dropped out of the sky to kill Desmond only to disappear again. We think that he's moving through the trees up high where its difficult to smell him and see where he's coming from or going,"

"That's just like how he moved in Jacksonville," Carlisle said thoughtfully.

"And how he got into Charlie's place without anyone knowing," I added.

"We can't climb the trees," Edward said for the wolves.

"No, but we can," I answered.

"There was no indication that something was going to happen," Edward went on, "he didn't even hear him coming,"

"We have a theory about this," Carlisle responded, "As some of us have gifts like Alice, Edward, or Bella, we think that this nomad may have some gifts of his own,"

"What kind of gifts?"

"That we're not sure of. It might be some kind of shield that prevents others from knowing about him until it's too late but that is only a guess,"

"This is dangerous. We depend on our hearing, our sight, and our sense of smell as much as our speed and strength,"

"Yes, but you have something he does not and from what you've described here, his gift likely does not affect; your pack mind. You were fully aware of everything during the attack, correct?"

"Yes, that is true,"

"This might be a way to fight him. Until we know more about who we're dealing with, we have to go with what we know or can reasonably surmise,"

"There is truth to that," Edward's voice seemed monotone so deep was his concentration on listening to the pack.

"We have someone, one who fought with us last year, who is coming to help. Eleazar, do you remember him?"

"Yes, we remember,"

"His gift is to be able to determine the gifts of others. We are hoping that he can give us more knowledge as to what we are dealing with. He may want to speak to you,"

Jacob looked at the members of his pack before looking back at Carlisle directly; "I'll meet with him,"

"Thank you, Jacob. We'll leave you now. You have our condolences for your loss," Carlisle, ever the peacemaker, said respectfully.

"Thanks, Jake," I added, "See you soon,"

He dipped his head one more time before we turned away to return home and inform the others about what had happened.

Back at the house, we were greeted at the door. Edward filled everyone in on the details. We were talking back and forth about the various possibilities of this most recent turn of events when I noticed Jasper turn and look curiously at Nessie.

As I watched he sauntered over and kneeled down next to her. I watched as her eyes grew round and solemn while she listlessly placed her hand on his cheek. After a moment Jasper smiled reassuringly at her, "No little one. No one is going to get you,"

Upon hearing this, the conversation grew quiet as all eyes turned towards Jasper and Renesmee. He took her carefully in his arms and explained patiently, "Do you see all of them? Your mother, father, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Esme, Carlisle, and me? This stranger will have to go through all of us before he can even get close to you. There's only one of him. And then there's your Jacob and the wolves who will also fight hard to protect you. You can close your eyes and sleep, precious one. No one will hurt you. Not now. Not ever. We won't allow it,"

A moment later a look of peace and contentment washed over Renesmee's face as she turned to Jasper one more time and placed her hand against him.

"You're welcome, sweetheart,"

The fact that Edward would have heard her thoughts and fears but didn't say anything about it crossed my mind. I turned towards him and saw him smiling. It was a look of love.

"Why didn't you say anything to her?" I asked him quietly.

"Because Jasper has been watching her all night. And because sometimes its easier to hear something, and believe it, if it comes from someone other than your parents. This was good for both of them,"

The logic of what Edward said was sound. Renesmee seemed to be reassured that she was okay and not going to be harmed and Jasper was able to play a larger role in things than he normally did. It was nice that something so seemingly small could make so many people so happy.

After hearing Jasper's side of the conversation and Edward's explanation, the others each took a moment to reassure my child. Some of it was done with hugs, some with words, but all of it was done with love.

The next day Eleazar and Carmen arrived early. We heard their car slow as it approached the turn to our driveway and then heard the sound of the wheels as they drove over the ground.

Carlisle met them at the door and showed them inside, "Carmen, Eleazar, thank you for coming,"

"Of course, Carlisle. You're family; you know you need only ask," Carmen said with a sad smile.

Carlisle nodded as they entered the living room where we were gathered. Jacob was there looking very somber. He was clearly still distraught over the loss of the member of his pack.

"I see your alliance with the wolves is as strong as ever it was," Carmen observed with a smile.

Jacob nodded giving a kind of polite half smile in return. He looked at Nessie and watched as she ran forward to greet our guests.

"Little Renesmee!" Carmen said as she picked her up and swung her around.

She smiled with joy at seeing our friends and immediately put her hand to Carmen's cheek. There was a momentary pause during which I saw Edward's tight smile.

"It seems as though my daughter is going to be the one to tell you," He said.

"Tell us what?" Eleazar asked clearly curious.

"There's been a complication," Carlisle said as he everyone sat down.

Carmen continued to hold Nessie as the two of them caught up on things; "Really little one, you must have your parents bring you up to Denali. You would love the snow and ice, and there are moose up there on which to feed,"

Another pause as Nessie's next question was communicated; "A moose is like a very large elk except he has a big nose and antlers like spoons. They are very temperamental but we manage to keep them in line,"

"Carlisle," Eleazar turned towards our patriarch, "What are these complications that you speak of? Has something happened?"

"That's one way of putting it," Jacob muttered from his seat.

Gesturing to Edward and I, we told Eleazar our story or what had happened to my mother, our subsequent trips to Jacksonville and what we had found down there. We didn't leave anything out. We told him of our attempts to find the nomad, and how he had eluded us.

We discussed with him at length the games that this nomad seemed to like to play; leaving notes and letting us get glimpses of him but nothing more.

"And you couldn't hear his thoughts, Edward?" Carmen asked with concern.

"No, nothing. It is possible that he was just too far away for me to pick him out but I don't think so," Edward looked upset.

I couldn't blame him. He had a family that relied on his abilities. Not just Nessie and I, but everyone who made up our family here in Forks. Even the wolves had on occasion relied on Edward's ability to hear the thoughts of another. It was a useful ability to have.

Eleazar held up the note we'd given him, "This writing is not familiar to me. I've no idea who this 'P' person is,"

"We're hoping that you might be able to help us determine what his abilities are," I told Eleazar.

"You are referring to the fact that Alice did not see him and Edward could not hear him,"

"And that the wolf he killed had no idea he was there until it was too late," Jacob added from his position on the couch.

"One of your wolves was killed?" Carmen's face looked very somber.

"Yes, just yesterday. He was ambushed from above. Being able to be in each other's thoughts and memories, I can tell you that there was no warning. No scent, no sound, and nothing that caught his eye,"

"We are sorry for your loss," Eleazar said bowing his head.

"So are we, thanks. But that doesn't change the fact that he's here and he seems to be playing with us while he takes out Bella's family,"

"You said her father was not harmed?" Eleazar asked looking from Jacob to me.

"No, he wasn't hurt but the nomad was in his house before we got home. He came through the tree tops. The wolves didn't get his scent on the ground. We watch his house now, and his job. But even with all of us and the Cullens, we can't always be wherever Charlie might go. We need to find this guy and find out what his issue is," Jacob explained.

"Or who sent him," I added.

"You obviously don't think he's here of his own accord," Carmen noted, "Would you please tell us why?"

"Because he knew where my mother lived. He knew to come here to forks and he knew where to find Charlie,"

Later that day Charlie himself came over with Sue. They were followed discretely by some of the wolves who chose to stay outside once they had arrived at the house. While Charlie and Sue exchanged pleasantries with our visiting family, Quil and Jared reported to Jacob something that had come to their attention.

I noticed Edward's attention diverted to the quiet little side conversation that was happening and his expression tightened momentarily before it smoothed over and returned to the conversation Eleazar and Charlie were having about Alaskan fishing.

It turned out that Eleazar actually knew quite a bit about that particular subject. Charlie was engaged in a deep discussion about Salmon fishing in Prince William Sound and was oblivious to the rest of us. Renesmee was huddled next to him and it was touching to see him absently playing with her hair.

Sue was observing the conversation from a little ways away with a kind smile on her face. She was obviously taken with Charlie. The love in her eyes mirrored completely by the look on her face. She was so in tune with him that it was interesting to see. Another tribute to her feelings for Charlie was the fact that she, a standing member of the Quileute tribe, was sitting in a house full of vampires. This was something that had to be uncomfortable for her. Yet here she was and she looked as if she felt as comfortable here as she would have at Charlie's or even her own house.

"Bella?" Jasper asked quietly from my side, "What is it?"

"It's them," I whispered ever so quietly, "I never dared hope that Ch- my dad would find love again. But he has, hasn't he?"

Jasper's smile was a wonderful confirmation of my suspicions, but it was what he said that really brought everything home; "Yes, he has. He is as deeply in love with Sue as he is capable of being. She returns that love easily and wholly without reservation. They are well matched,"

"All the more reason to keep them protected," I muttered.

"Yes, it is. Don't worry, Bella. No one is going to hurt them. None of us will allow it,"

"No, we won't," Jacob added quietly and with conviction.

Carmen disappeared with Nessie for a little while and it wasn't long before I heard my daughter start laughing from another room. They were in there together and Carmen was teaching her some words in Spanish.

They had made a game out of it. I watched as first Carmen would point out a dozen things in the room saying their names in Spanish. After she had done this, she'd point out the same objects in a different order for Nessie to say back in English. It was amazing to see that my daughter's thirst for learning hadn't diminished in the slightest. She got each thing right and went through the cycle three times with different objects or people each time.

What none of us were prepared for was Charlie's reaction when he saw this. He sat for a minute, his mouth wide open in shock as his grandchild executed this exercise flawlessly.

His heart, which any of us in the room except for maybe Sue could hear, started picking up its pace. I saw the expressions on Edward's tighten as he listened to what Charlie was thinking.

"Need to know, Charlie," Edward said quietly.

Carmen and Eleazar looked on curiously as they witnessed what was happening in our living room. They looked at Edward first and then Charlie.

"He doesn't know?" Carmen asked Carlisle quietly.

"No," Carlisle answered, "You can imagine why I'm sure,"

"Yes, and you're right. You told us that they had a hard time with Bella knowing,"

"And the only thing that saved her, and us I might add, was that Alice had seen that she would one day be turned. For Aro, that was proof enough,"

"Was it really?" Eleazar asked. He seemed a little surprised.

Edward nodded as Carmen added, "But Alice's visions are subjective! Aro should know this!"

"He does," Alice replied joining in the conversation.

"Then why...? Oh," Eleazar seemed to realize something.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked as Edward's face took on new expression of vindication.

"They were currying favor," Eleazar said as Edward nodded next to him.

"Even then, Aro wanted Alice," Edward sighed.

"It didn't happen and it won't. Not now, not ever," Alice hissed.

Charlie looked up at the sudden noise from Alice. Until then the entire conversation had been outside of his range of hearing.

"Alice? Are you okay?" He asked.

"Fine Charlie, thank you." She smiled at him.

My Dad was still as fond of Alice as he ever was. He smiled warmly at her and then returned his attention to his granddaughter. Which returned us to the conversation at hand.

"So what does he know?" Carmen asked.

"That the world he lives in is not quite the one he thought it was," Jacob answered with a half smile.

Edward, reading Jacob's thoughts, smiled as well. When Jacob saw this he turned to Eleazar and Carmen to explain.

"When Nessie was born there was a time when everyone thought that the family here would have to leave. So I took matters into my own hands to help um...educate Charlie as to what the world is really like,"

With an evil grin, Edward added; "What you did was strip naked in front of the man while he still was wearing his gun. Then you phased into your wolf form and nearly gave poor Charlie an early trip to his grave,"

Looking a little defensive Jacob finished; "What did you expect me to do? I had to tell him something. You all were going to leave and I just couldn't let that happen. You know that,"

"Why not?" Eleazar asked looking very interested.

"It's kind of complicated," Jacob hedged.

"No it isn't," Rosalie chimed in, "He imprinted on Renesmee. Why do you think he's around here all the time? The poor dog can't stand to be away from her for too long,"

"Is that what did it? Is that what cemented the relationship between you and the tribe?" Carmen looked surprised.

"That was one thing. The other was..."

"Something that we no longer worry about," Carlisle finished. Esme stood quietly next to him smiling warmly.

Quil and Jerrod left not long after that. Jacob looked grim and sullen. I saw Edward studying him intently for a minute before he caught me looking at them. He sighed and then came over to where I was sitting.

Leaning over as if to kiss my cheek Edward whispered very quickly and quietly so that Charlie or Sue could not hear; "The nomad tried getting through the wolf pack today. They saw him this time and gave chase but he cut into the water where the wolves lose any advantage,"

"Edward," I said feeling alarmed.

This was very close to the way that Victoria had done things not so very long ago. Was it coincidence?

"We'll get him, Bella. Charlie won't come to any harm. Neither will Sue or any of the wolves,"

With Charlie and Sue there I really couldn't say anymore. There would be time for that later. I could only sit and stew over the possibilities in my mind as to what it was the nomad was doing all while putting on a happy face for my father and his fiancé who were oblivious to the entire situation.

There was a new development in our house that day as well. Charlie seemed to be paying much more attention to Renesmee. His eyes followed her and I knew that he was quickly putting the pieces together. The more he saw the more his eyes tightened and the more sullen he became. I knew from experience it was only a matter of time before he said something. As it turned out, I was right.

Charlie had stayed with us for several hours and he became more quiet with every hour that passed. Finally he turned to Edward and I and said in a voice that would broker no argument; "I'm sick and tired of all the secrets around here. Every time I think I want to know something, I change my mind. But Nessie is part of my family too. I think I have a right to know what's going on. This need to know business be damned,"

The house went entirely silent. All the people in the room had their eyes on Charlie. The vampires were utterly still. Carlisle, whom Charlie had respected since before I had ever moved to Forks, stepped forward.

"Charlie," He began, "There is more going on than you know. It's for your own safety that you've been kept out of things,"

Never had I seen Carlisle's face so earnestly honest. None of us wanted a repeat what had happened last year with the Volturi when they thought our secret was threatened. By allowing Charlie into our world more than he already was, was an invitation for nothing but trouble.

"I'm a grown man and a cop. Hell, I've been Chief of Police since before you came to Forks. I think I can take care of myself," Charlie answered him curtly.

"Against most things in your world, you're right," Emmett said directing a level gaze at him, "but in our world that's not quite true,"

"My world, your world. It's all one world!" Charlie stood up.

He wasn't going to back down this time. I could see that easily enough. I decided it was time to intervene, "Dad, please. It was only because you agreed to keep things on a need to know basis that we have been able to stay here. Carlisle and Emmett are right. There really is more to our world than you thought. Much more. I'm sorry this is so difficult for you but there are those in our world who don't care for the laws that you uphold,"

"No Bella! Not this time. I appreciate what it is that you're trying to do, but this is family. Damn it all I want to know what's going on! Why all the secrecy? What has you so scared that you feel like you have to run and hide if I find out? I. Want. To. Know. What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On.,"

"Bella," Jasper said quietly, but loud enough for Charlie and Sue to hear, "Why don't you take Charlie outside and demonstrate for him some of the differences between our worlds?"

Jasper had an idea there, I thought. Standing up with Edward, Jacob, and Nessie beside me, I walked outside, "Coming Dad?"

Grumbling under his breath, Charlie got up to follow. Sue was right behind him. As soon as we were outside, Jacob disappeared for a moment and then came back in his wolf form. It was a blatant reminder of something he'd shown Charlie not so long ago.

Charlie shuddered but remained resolute.

"He's determined to get a full accounting," Edward told me, "Jacob's little reminder didn't work so well,"

Thinking on what it was that I would do to demonstrate for Charlie why our worlds really were so vastly different, I remembered back to a foggy human memory that suddenly came to mind. It was when Edward showed me what he was really capable of that spring day when we declared our love for each other the year I first moved to Forks. It gave me an idea.

"Dad," I said thinking fast, "Do you remember how clumsy I used to be?"

He smiled in spite of himself. When he did, I smiled back at him and then I turned around and took off at full speed. It was much faster than his eyes could follow but this is exactly what I wanted.

I then made an easy leap into the air and landed up in the trees. Once there I quickly moved through the branches like I belonged there and had done so my whole life. Hearing his heart rate pick up I decided to give him one more demonstration. One that would really bring the message home.

I leaped from half way up a large spruce tree to the top of the house and from there lightly to the ground in front of him. We were out in the yard now and there were several huge boulders on the ground nearby.

"Hey Dad, can you hand me that rock?" I asked him.

He closed his mouth and his eyes widened as he looked at the rock I was pointing at. It was the size of a Volkswagen Bug.

"Never mind, I've got it," I smiled at him as I reached forward and lifted the rock off the ground as easily as I might have lifted a basket only half full of clothes.

Barley noticing the weight in my arms, I tossed the rock into the air once, twice, and a third time before hurling it with one arm hard out into the forest somewhere. The sounds of trees being hit and branches snapping as the rock passed through them like a bullet.

Turning to look at Charlie now with a big smile, I faltered. All color had drained from his face. His eyes were wide with shock and awe. Even Sue's eyes were widened in surprise. I could hear their hearts beating a rapid staccato beat in their chests. Carlisle was looking at them worriedly.

"I think you may have overdone it a little," Edward whispered.

We watched the two of them for a minute while they made sense of what they saw. Sue, who knew about the wolves and the pack and through them knew something about us, was the first to recover.

Her heart rate started slowing as she started processing in her mind the things that her eyes and ears had shown her. She blinked once at me, shuddered ever so slightly, then smiled at me before turning towards Charlie.

He looked like he was having a much harder time putting the pieces together. In all honesty, who could blame him? He had just witnessed his daughter doing things that everything he knew about me and his world told him should be impossible. Yet I had done those things just the same and done it easily.

"A-are you all...like that? Like Bella?" Smiling gently at Charlie, Alice stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "No one is quite like Bella, she's one of a kind. But if you mean can we do what she just did? Yes, we can. Even Renesmee can do all of that. She just does it to a lesser degree,"

Looking at Alice now as if his sanity depended on it, Charlie asked; "What do you mean?"

"She's half human, Charlie. She was conceived and carried while Bella was still as human as you are now," Edward explained carefully.

"What happened?"

"Bella's human body wasn't compatible with Renesmee's...other traits. So Bella had to become something else,"

"What do you mean, something else?" Charlie asked belligerently.

"That's exactly what we can't tell you," Jasper said as he came forward now.

"Why can't you tell me? What is this secret that you're all so determined to hide?"

No one knew what to tell him. There wasn't anything that we could say that he would accept, save for the truth. And the truth was the one thing he could not know. If he did it could cost him his life. That was not something I was willing to gamble with. The gamble I'd made with my own life, while it gave me exactly what I wanted and more, had been a great cost to bear. It was not one that I could willingly allow Charlie to incur.

"Charlie," Carlisle said taking over the conversation now, "There are those who do not care about human laws. Their only concern in protecting our secret. The only reason Bella is alive now, and Renesmee too, is because we had to convince those same people that our secret was and is safe,"

"Are you saying you don't trust me? After everything else that's been said and done?"

"It's not a question of trust, Charlie," Esme answered, "It's a question of protecting your life. Bella would be dead now if she hadn't become one of us,"

Charlie's face told me all I needed to know. Our arguments were falling on deaf ears. Eleazar must have thought so too, because he stepped forward and with a calm authority made a statement that caught all of us off guard.

"You might as well stop these arguments. For one thing, this man hear is unwilling to hear them. Your time would be better spent on other endeavors. For another thing, and more importantly to this conversation, he already knows more than enough to give the Volturi reason to claim his life as forfeit,"

Edward clinched his jaw at Eleazar's words. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Esme looked at him as he spoke. Emmett and Carlisle were watching Charlie. Turning to follow their gaze, I could see why.

"My life? Forfeit? You've got to be kidding me," Charlie scoffed.

"We assure you, Charlie, this is no joking matter. You saw what Bella did. As Alice stated herself, we are all capable of that much. Some of us are capable of much more, " Carmen explained.

Her amber eyes were serious and kind. He looked at her for a moment and seemed to come to an understanding of sorts.

"You're all serious, aren't you?" He asked skeptically.

"Do you believe your own eyes? What about your ears? You watched Bella today and you heard Renesmee prior to that. There is everything to be serious about," Eleazar answered him.

"This brings up a new problem now," Emmett stated matter of factly.

"Which is what?" Esme asked him.

"If Charlie here knows enough for the Volturi to get uptight about it, what do we do about it? We're back to the same question we were facing a year ago,"

"Change him or let him die," Edward breathed.

Sue's eyes widened upon hearing this. Jasper's head turned to watch her and Edward's followed.

"There's no reason to be discussing this now," Edward said trying to calm the situation.

"No, there are other, more pressing matters at hand," Eleazar agreed.

"More pressing matters?" Charlie was incredulous.

It was a rare slip up. We had become so accustomed to Charlie being there that we had made a cardinal mistake. We were discussing the situation with the nomad and until that moment Charlie had been unaware of it. Having Charlie being aware of us, the real us, and now adding the nomad to it just made matters that much more complicated.

"Now we've done it," Emmett chuckled, "If we didn't have a problem before, we do now,"

"Emmett, now is not the time for that," Esme chided him.

"What is it you're talking about?"

Turning now to look at Charlie fully, Edward dropped all pretenses; "What we're talking about Charlie, is one of those dangers we were speaking of. One of many. This one is just much more pressing right now,"

"Here we go with the secrets again!" Charlie growled.

"This is about Desmond, isn't it?" Sue asked looking at me.

Standing outside in our yard, things went quiet except for the sounds of birds and small animals moving in the trees. I could feel the barometric pressure changing as I stood there. A storm was brewing. It struck me as rather ironic that here and now, that a storm was brewing in more ways than one.

"Yes," Carlisle answered for me, "It is,"

"Desmond? The boy from the reservation? Are you involved in that?" Charlie asked.

He was all cop now. This made sense since the fact that someone within his jurisdiction was killed. My dad would have been investigating that.

"We are involved. But not like you think," Edward told him quietly.

"And how do you know what I'm thinking? Can you read my mind?" Charlie's question was meant to be sarcastic, but my husband answered him anyway.

"Yes Charlie, I can as a matter of fact,"

He looked around like he was waiting for a punch line except that there wasn't one. Edward continued, "Well not read your mind exactly, its more like I can get an impression of what you're thinking,"

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, Dad. He is," I answered him as honestly as I could.

"Prove it," Charlie told him.

So Edward did exactly as Charlie asked. He told him what he was generally thinking, then he did the same for Sue, Jacob, and even Alice.

"What about Bella? Can't you read her thoughts?" Charlie asked, the skepticism in his voice markedly less now.

"No. Not unless she deliberately lets me. I never have been, even before we were married," He answered truthfully.

At that point Nessie came up and gently tugged on Charlie's shirt. He looked down at her and a smile crossed his face. Even after everything he'd seen and witnessed, his feelings for her hadn't changed.

Crouching down to her level, he asked her; "What do you think, Ness? Should I believe them?"

Instead of answering with her voice as she'd always done before, Renesmee simply reached up and gently put her hand to Charlie's cheek. Edward's eyes closed as he concentrated on what Nessie showed my dad. Everyone else stood stock still while Charlie experienced Nessie's talent. His eyes widened and he fell back onto his rump hard.

He looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted wings. His mouth hung open and his heart was racing.

"What was that?" Charlie asked slowly.

"She was telling you, in her way, that everything you've seen and heard is the truth. She's just showing you in a way that leaves no doubt about what we're saying,"

"How long has she been able to do that?" He was staring at her now in a way that almost bordered on reverence.

"Since she was born," I told him frankly.

"Jake...You knew about all of this?" Charlie looked at him as if he was begging Jacob to tell him that this was all some kind of joke.

Jacob, in his wolf form dipped his head as if to say; "Yes, Charlie. I did,"

"What did she show him?" Eleazar asked Edward.

"Everything. She acted on impulse and before I could stop her. She told him about her birth experience, going hunting with Jacob and us, and she told him about the events last year as well,"

I stared uncomprehendingly at Edward, "You mean...?

"Yes, Charlie now knows about the Volturi as well. She laid it all out for him. Everything. Including what we are,"

I looked at Renesmee in horror. What had she done? I felt something that I'd not felt since last year; real fear. Charlie, in the space of a few moments, had just been sentenced to death.

Just then Jacob jumped up as if he'd been physically jolted in some way. His knees buckled and he looked as if he was in real, physical pain.

Edward's eyes widened and immediately he was at Jacob's side. Then we heard it. It was a sound that would have made my blood run cold. Which was an effect that had happened to Charlie as goose bumps raised up on his arms.

Sue's head came up and she looked towards Jacob with a new sense of comprehension.

"Oh no," Edward said with deep heartfelt pain in his voice, "Billy,"

"What? Billy Black? What's wrong with him?" Charlie asked as he watched Edward and Jacob fearfully.

Edward's arms gently wrapped around Jacob in an almost fatherly embrace. I was at their side in less than a second, trying to give what comfort I could. I knew what Edward would say even as he said it out loud for the sakes of everyone else.

"The wolves just found him, tied high up in a tree. He's dead,"


	6. Ch 6 Investigation Averted

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Chapter 6**

Instantly we were all on our guard. This was no random accident. This was a blatant statement. The nomad had struck again, this time in the heart of the Quileute reservation. It was a deliberate blow against the wolves and through them at us.

Without saying a word, Rosalie picked up Nessie and with Emmett right behind them, they ran into the house. Alice and Jasper went with them while Carlisle, Esme, Carmen, Eleazar, Edward, Sue, Charlie, and I all stayed outside with Jacob.

"I'm sorry, Jake. I am so sorry," I whispered to him over and over.

"Charlie? Sue? Are you alright?" Esme asked the maternally.

Turning to look at my dad, he was white as a sheet. His breathing was becoming labored and his heart raced in an ever increasing beat. Sue didn't look any better.

Carlisle quickly turned his attention away from Jacob towards the two of them. His forehead furrowed in concern as he assessed them quickly. Faster than the blink of an eye he was next to them, easing first Charlie, then Sue into a sitting position with their heads between their knees.

"They're going into shock," Carlisle stated as he took their pulse, "We need to get them inside,"

Edward and Carlisle helped Charlie to his feet while Esme and I helped Sue. We had to practically carry them into the house while Eleazar and Carmen led the way. Turning to look for Jacob to follow, I saw his bushy tail disappearing into the trees.

Once inside the house Carmen looked distressed. Eleazar was on the phone with someone though I couldn't hear who at the moment. He was speaking quickly and quietly as if he had a lot to say and wanted to have it all said at once.

Moments later he turned the phone off and turned to us, "Tanya and Kate will be here in the morning with Garrett. This situation is one that we need to bring under control quickly. If this nomad of yours keeps killing this indiscriminately, it will draw attention that we do not want,"

"From humans," Esme nodded in understanding.

"Humans certainly. I would be more worried about a visit from Italy if anyone from over there hears about a problem developing here again. They may decide to return and to eradicate the problem this time,"

"You don't think they'd come back so soon, do you?" Esme asked looking a bit fearful.

"They were embarrassed by what happened here last time. Neither Aro nor Caius like to lose. They would see it as vindication I think," Carmen answered and Eleazar nodded his agreement.

This was all discussed outside the range of hearing for Charlie and Sue. Neither of them looked like they were enduring things very well which was a point I made to Carlisle.

"Bella, your father just suffered a major shock. Several of them really. Give him time to adjust to what he's learned today," Carlisle said while taking Charlie's blood pressure.

"But he's a cop! He deals with death and all that regularly!"

"Yes Bella, but he's used to dealing with the aspects of his job in the world he knows," Jasper explained from a distance, "You've just shown him that beyond any shadow of a doubt the world he lives in is not the world he thought he knew. He's going to need some time to come to terms with that,"

"Bella," Carlisle said quietly, I saw from the corner of my eye Edward's head jerk up and stare at our father intently as he heard what was in his thoughts, "We'll make sure Charlie is alright. Right now you need to go down to the reservation. Out of all of us they'll trust you the most. Take Eleazar and Edward with you. We need to find out what happened there,"

"But Charlie..."

"Charlie will be fine, Bella. I promise," Carlisle said reassuringly.

I saw that Edward and Eleazar were already waiting by the door. I joined them and we left for the reservation.

The trees, ferns, rocks, and even the animals flashed by. We were running so fast that we could have dodged between the drops of the pouring rain that had started to fall. We knew when we crossed the border because the scent of the wolves that patrolled it grew that much stronger.

I led the way towards the Black home except Edward reached out and gently took my arm; "They're not home,"

"What? Isn't that were they would have taken Billy?" I asked confounded as to why they wouldn't have taken Billy home before the coroner could come and collect him.

Bracingly Edward shook his head, "He...he's still up in that tree,"

"WHAT?" I was mortified.

"Their grief. It's too strong. None of them are capable of phasing back right now to be able to climb up and retrieve him," Edward said not meeting my eyes.

Turning now and changing direction we came out of the thickest of the trees and were within sight of the little store on the reservation. Almost immediately two wolves were thundering towards us with their hackles raised and teeth bared.

Before Edward could say anything to them though they stopped suddenly and they're knees buckled. The looks on their faces showed both surprise and then reluctant acceptance. They folded their ears back but stood away to let us pass.

"What was that about?" Eleazar asked as we walked past the wolves.

"When they're in wolf form they're governed more by instinct than anything else," Edward explained as we approached the scene where the entire wolf pack was gathered.

I recognized Jacob and Sam of course. Also Seth, Leah, Quil, Jared, Embry, Brady, Collin, Paul, Jason, and Derek. It took me a minute to realize that I was trying to account for a missing member only to realize it was Desmond. The wolf who was taken from the pack to recently and whose death was the major reason for Eleazar's being with us now.

Edward was continuing his explanation of why the wolves challenged us and then cowed away; "Jacob, as the pack's Alpha male, gave an order to leave us alone. No wolf can disobey an Alpha's orders,"

"Will they let us help them?" Eleazar asked now that we were drawing near.

"They have no choice. Jacob ordered them to and Sam has supported the decision. Sam was the Alpha before Jacob so there is no way for them to try to skirt the directive,"

The wolves were gathered near a grouping of trees not far from the little store. We could easily hear the anxious voices of the people at the store and they were as upset and grief stricken as they were scared. Knowing what it was that had killed Billy I couldn't blame them.

As we neared the place where the wolves were gathered, I watched as Edward glanced quickly up into a particularly tall pine. There, tied to the top most branches by his ankles, was the body of Billy Black.

He was as white as his russet brown skin would allow him to be. His face was a mask of horror. His mouth open in a silent scream and his eyes staring widely and fearfully at something he could no longer see. Even from where I stood on the ground I could easily see the bite mark on Billy's neck where the nomad had bitten and drained him.

If I slept, the image of Billy hanging from that tree would be one that would have given me nightmares. As it was it was an image that would haunt me for the rest of my existence. Given his current condition, there was no way that Charlie could ever see this.

"Jacob is asking if one of us could go up there and bring him down," Edward was hearing my best friends thoughts and I was grateful for the distraction.

Looking up at the body just hanging there, I didn't want to be the one to go up that tree. Edward it seemed had already planned on going.

Without a word he leapt up from the ground and quickly scaled the tree to the uppermost limbs. It bowed precariously under the combined weight of the two of them. We watched at my husband easily slung the lifeless body of Billy Black over his shoulder, cut through the twined and twisted branches that had been used to secure him to the tree with a swipe of his hand, and then as quickly as he went up, descend from the branches.

As Edward climbed down, it was clear that he was taking things slowly and carefully. He did this out of respect for Billy I knew, but also out of respect for the wolves watching from below. He took his time and when he reached the ground he was immediately surrounded by the wolves.

Old Quil Atrera, who had come down from the store and who had been watching all of us gathered here from a distance finally made his way down to where we stood.

"Poor Billy..." He sighed.

Eleazar looked at the aged man who had joined us but said nothing. Tipping my head towards him I whispered quietly, "The genetic trait that allows the wolves to become what they are skipped a generation. It was when the Cullens returned here that the gene was triggered and the younger men of the tribe began to transform again,"

"That explains his presence and comfort with them. Has anyone thought to ask him if he saw what happened here?" Eleazar asked.

Hearing the question, Edward turned to us and answered; "He doesn't know much. He was nearby when the discovery was made though. That's why there aren't any other people down here. He's told them to stay up there,"

"Will they let us take Billy home?" I asked looking at the tortured expression on Jacob's face.

It was Old Quill who answered me. He turned and looked me in the eyes and his face was one of a life full of experience, knowledge, and wisdom. However his eyes held a look of distrust and betrayal. He had known me a little bit before my transformation into a vampire. I'm sure that my transformation didn't sit well with him, however his voice was cordial as he said; "You may take him home. No one will deny you passage when you're performing such a kindness for us,"

Eleazar and I fell in next to Edward who carried Billy easily in a cradled position to his ramshackle house. Jacob's sister, Rachel who was visiting from Hawaii, was shaking in grief and rage. She had tears in her eyes and they glared at us hatefully.

At a growl from Jacob she stood aside so that Edward could take her father in and lie him on his bed. Taking Billy's hands, Edward placed them on his chest and then took a second to bow his head respectfully.

He then looked up at us and we left the house. Outside was another scene unfolding. Rachel was so grief stricken that she didn't know what to do. Old Quil was trying to comfort her and take her out of sight from the townspeople who were coming to pay their respects to a fallen tribal elder.

Knowing that not all of the people in the town knew of the wolves, the pack faded into the woods where Edward, Eleazar, and I followed them. We could hear Rachel keening her grief.

My eyes pricked and my chest felt oddly weighted down. I realized then that I was identifying with Rachel. It had only been recently that I'd lost my own mother and here she was grieving the loss of her father.

We watched as Rachel pulled away from Old Quil and started clutching and clawing at herself. The old man froze and a few of the wolves, led by Jacob and Sam, stepped out of the trees to watch. Then something very...odd happened.

It was a shift in her stance, a change in her posture. Then next thing we knew Rachel exploded out of her clothes and was standing there in front of us in full wolf form. Still shaking from head to padded toe, she suddenly threw back her head and howled her grief and torment into the air. The other wolves followed her action.

"What did I just see?" Eleazar asked in a whisper.

"Rachel Black just phased for the first time. Her rage opened up the door and let the transformation happen. They're talking to her now, trying to settle her down and educate her as to what this will mean for her,"

"What about Billy?" I asked my eyes still on the scene unfolding in front of us.

"I will be back in a moment," Eleazar said as he left Edward and I to watch the wolves.

Moments later our guest was back and he was shaking his head confusedly. Edward looked at him for a moment, "Nothing?"

For my benefit he looked at me and explained, "I thought maybe once I got close to the man who died that I might recognize the scent of the one who killed him. I did not. Neither did I recognize the scent in the trees where the man was tied. Whoever this nomad is, he is not someone that I'm familiar with,"

Feeling a bit let down, I nodded. It was a long shot anyway.

"Maybe Carmen, Tanya, Kate, or Garrett will have more luck," Eleazar went on.

Looking up at him, he smiled at me and said, "Just because we choose to live in a place as remote as Denali does not mean that we are not all of us well traveled, young one. It is possible that one of the others may have crossed this person's scent before in their travels. We shall soon see,"

Yet again I was glad that I was no longer capable of blushing or that Edward could not hear my thoughts without me allowing it. The embarrassment I felt at my assumption would have made him laugh, I'm sure.

A thought occurred to me then, one that in my shock I was surprised hadn't occurred to me sooner; "Charlie!"

"He's fine, Bella. He's at the house with Carlisle, Alice, Sue, and the rest. Don't worry about him,"

"It's not necessarily his well being I'm concerned with at the moment," I explained as I watched the pack trying to assist a clearly defiant and reluctant Rachel come to some kind of acceptance of who and what she was, "It's his job!"

Eleazar looked confused but I could see that Edward understood what I meant.

"Of course! Charlie is going to want to investigate this. This isn't like Jacksonville, this happened right under his nose. I don't remember him looking into the wolf murder though,"

"Desmond would have been a priority. Anything that happens on the reservation would be under his jurisdiction, just like Forks is,"

"He must be more distracted than I thought," Edward observed,

"Can't you hear his thoughts?" Eleazar asked, "I would have thought that you of all people would know what direction his thoughts were taking,"

Looking sidelong at me, Edward sighed; "You know that Bella is a shield,"

Eleazar nodded and Edward continued; "She seems to have inherited that trait from her father. Usually all I can get from him is his moods and general train of thought. Occasionally, when he's very focused on something, I get more of his thoughts like I do with the others but never with the same clarity that I do with yours for example,"

This was all new to me. I wondered why Edward had never mentioned any of this before. Was he ashamed to admit that there was more than just me whose thoughts he couldn't hear with perfect clarity?

"So you didn't realize that Charlie was distracted?"

"I'm sure his deputy is probably the one handling the death of Desmond Pullen. With Charlie's ex-wife Renee so recently murdered, I'm sure that this would have been passed on to him," Edward speculated.

"What story would they have given this officer?" Eleazar asked curiously.

"Most likely something easily explained and accepted, like a car accident,"

"Would he believe something like that so easily?"

"He would. It's easier to believe something like that than the truth and it maintains our secret too,"

"But that will mean little when Charlie chooses to get involved over this loss of his friend. His reaction speaks towards his feeling about the man who died. Bella's father had great respect for him," Eleazar observed.

"Charlie and Billy have been friends since before I was born. I've known the Black family for my entire life," I was suddenly overcome with feeling.

The loss of Billy had been totally unexpected. Seeing Jacob react to the news and then bearing witness to Rachel's reaction to her father's death really brought the event home like nothing else had. I clutched at my chest even though my heart and lungs no longer functioned. Edward saw the motion and instantly reacted.

Pulling me into his arms he said gently, "Come on Bella, let's get you home,"

We left the wolves to grieve their loss and assist their newest pack member in privacy. The three of us walked back to our house in the woods. Eleazar and Edward continued their conversation as we walked while I listened absently.

"So you've never truly heard Charlie's thoughts, only his feelings and moods?"

"That's correct," Edward affirmed.

"Given the strength of Bella's shield, I'm curious to know how Charlie's shield would transition if he were to become one of us,"

Looking at me fearfully, Edward answered; "Let's not find out,"

"Of course not. Certainly Charlie should live out his life as a human for as long as he has a life to live. Mine was nothing more than an idle curiosity," Eleazar said addressing his comments to both Edward and I.

"Thank You, Eleazar," I smiled at him.

Even though we were family now, I was still somewhat intimidated by our cousins. Eleazar seemed to sense this because he smiled at me and winked an eye, "Fear not, young Bella. We will find an end to this problem with the nomad. When the others come, we will hunt him down and avenge your mother and your friends. He will not kill anyone again,"

Smiling again in gratitude towards my new cousin, we walked the rest of the way home in companionable silence. Eleazar looked like he was thinking about the things that he had seen, heard, and been made aware of since their arrival. Edward made it clear that his primary concern was me; he held me tightly and his eyes constantly scanned the forest as we walked through the pouring rain. My thoughts turned back towards my father. I found that I was fervently hoping that there was truth in Eleazar's words. I wanted my father to be able to live. I wanted him to be able to have the life he wanted; one free of the burdens knowing about my world would carry for him. It didn't look like that was going to be possible now.

Our suspicions were confirmed when we got back to the house. We could hear Sue inside trying to get Charlie to take a moment to listen to her.

"Charlie, please listen," She was saying with frustration in her tone, "If you go back to the station and begin an investigation, you're risking exposing our world?"

"Sue darlin, I'm the Chief of Police. Investigating any suspicious death is my job! How would it look to the people of Forks, much less the people on the reservation, if I didn't do the job that they're paying me to do? What kind of cop would I be? I owe it to Billy, and to Desmond, to look into their deaths..." "Charlie," Carlisle said patiently, "You've been exposed to our world now. This changes things,"

"Not when it comes to my job it doesn't!" Charlie growled.

"They're right, Charlie," Alice added.

This was good, Charlie liked Alice. He would at least hear what it was she had to say even if he wouldn't really listen to it.

"He's determined," Edward told us as we climbed up the steps, "They're not going to back him down on this,"

"Then he will have to make a choice. To continue his life as a human, for however long that might be once the Volturi hear about what he knows, or to become one of us. Whatever choice he makes, he cannot draw the attention of the human authorities to what has happened here. It will do no one any good if he does,"

"What do you suggest, Eleazar?" Edward asked echoing the thoughts I was having.

"Let him ask the Quileute people what they want, and then he can proceed from there. From what I've observed, Charlie respects them and has their respect as well. If they ask him to let them handle this, he won't have any choice but to let them else he risks losing the respect and good will with them that he has,"

But would Charlie back down if they asked him to? That was the thought that was on my mind. Was he seeing things clearly enough to realize that if he were to refuse to back down, he'd cause more problems than we have already?

"Bella, you're the one who is going to have to present this to him. His mind is so set right now, he won't listen to anyone else," Edward turned towards me.

I had been expecting this. My position in this situation was unique. I was Charlie's daughter, a vampire with a secret to protect, and some of my best friends were the very werewolves we had been talking about. It only made sense for me to be the one to discus this with him. My problem was, knowing Charlie as I did, would doing this even be worth my time?

We stepped into the house to see Charlie standing at the dining room table. This time the prop was being used as a place of discussion and everyone was standing near it. Charlie and Sue on one side, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper on the other. I could see Rosalie standing with Nessie in the kitchen, both of them carefully watching the events that were unfolding in front of them.

Carlisle and Esme wore faces lined with frustration. Sue's was filled with concern as she tried to help my dad understand the full implications of what it was that he wanted to do. It was clear that she wasn't meeting with much success. Frankly I was impressed that Charlie had stayed this long. Then I noticed Edward look at Jasper questioningly and Jasper gave the slightest of nods.

So he was helping the situation. No wonder why Charlie was still here and not storming out the door. Jasper was using his abilities to help keep my dad calm and from getting too angry.

"Look! Billy Black was my best friend! I'll be damned if..."

"Yes, You will be damned. Damned beyond anything your human mind can imagine!" Carmen said as she came in from outside cell phone in hand.

Charlie looked at her and then saw me, Edward, and Eleazar, "I suppose you're going to tell me that I should leave this to the tribe too,"

His voice was accusing and I could see the pain in his eyes. I took a deep breath. This would require a lot of diplomacy and tact, neither of which I was very good at.

"Look Dad," I began tentatively, "If you want to take Sue and go out and pay your respects to your friend, by all means do so. You've known Billy for a long time and I know that Jacob is going to need some help getting things set up for a funeral. If you want to help that way, I'm sure you'd be more than welcome,"

This seemed to at least make him stop and listen. I glanced at Jasper again and he nodded at me to continue so I did, "But you won't be doing them, us, or yourself any favors if you go out there as Police Chief Charlie Swan. All you'll end up doing is alienating everyone and making yourself unwelcome,"

"How so?" His eyes narrowed, "I've known the people out there a lot longer than you have,"

"Yes Dad, you have. You've known them for years. You've been there for them and helped them out when they needed it as any good police officer would do. But in this, I know them a lot better than you do. Remember what you know about Jacob?"

He shuddered and nodded so I went on, "The entire tribe, or the elders anyway, are aware of that secret. They've kept it from you in all the years that you've known them. Why would they do this? Simple, because this was something that even as their friend, you didn't need to know. If you go out there now, you will destroy all of the trust you have with them,"

"But it's my job!" Charlie snarled.

"Not this time, Dad. I'm sorry, I know you want to help and if it was anyone in town that wouldn't be a problem. But not on the reservation. Not this time," I told him calmly.

"Bella Swan!" Charlie was puffing up his chest now indignantly; the way he did when he was being obstinate and not willing to see or hear the truth. "If you think for one second..."

"Cullen," I said calmly.

He heard me and it brought him up short, "What was that?"

"I've been married to Edward for over a year now. My name is Bella Cullen now, remember?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest and gave him the look I reserved for when he really put his foot in it.

It worked. He ran his hand nervously through his hair and sighed heavily, "I can't just sit back and do nothing,"

"No one expects you to do nothing. Go to the reservation. See Billy, see the others. Pay your respects and remember him for the friend that he was. Jacob is going to need you. He won't have a clue as to how to set up a funeral or who to talk to about that. You can help him. Just don't go launching any investigations into why Billy Black or Desmond Pullen died. You won't find anything and you won't help anyone if you do,"

"Bella's right, Charlie," Alice said as she moved forward and gave him a gentle hug.

Charlie returned her hug awkwardly and tried unsuccessfully to hide the tears that were now forming in his eyes. I went over and gave him a hug of my own.

"He was a good man, Dad. Go say good bye to him one more time,"

"What about you?" Charlie asked gruffly.

"What about me?" I asked feeling a little surprised.

I saw Eleazar's head jerk up and Edward's follow in response, "Of course! Eleazar, you're right. They can't go alone,"

Turning now to look at Edward directly, he explained in a voice too low and fast for my father or Sue to hear, "The nomad is still out there. He knows your father's scent as well as Sue's, yours, mine, and I'm sure everyone else's by now. You and I should go with them,"

Realizing Edward was right, I turned back to Charlie and asked, "Do you mind if Edward and I go with you?"

Right away he relaxed and I knew that he was hoping I'd ask him something like this.

"I'd like that, if you don't mind?"

"We'd like to come, Charlie. Its the least we can do," Edward smiled at him.

No one mentioned that it would also give us a perfect opportunity to make sure that Charlie didn't go off on a wild tangent and change his mind about starting some kind of an investigation. No one needed to. With the argument just recently finished so fresh in our minds, this was a logical precaution to take.

We piled into Edward's car and drove the miles slowly towards the Quileute reservation. I heard my husband sigh quietly and had to stifle a grin. He hated driving slow. However it wouldn't do to drive at his usual speeds while transporting the Chief of the local police department. I could just hear Charlie's ranting if Edward were to even try.

The rhythmic swish of the wipers over the windshield and the sound of the tires driving over the rain soaked roads had a calming effect on Charlie which in turn allowed Sue a moment to relax.

When she saw me looking back at her, I saw her clearly mouth the words; "Thank You," I smiled and nodded my head in understanding. Of course this would be even tougher on Sue Clearwater. She was part of the Quileute people. Billy Black had been a trusted friend and he had been more than a little help with her children when Sue's first husband, Harry had died.

She had taken Harry's place on the Tribal Council when he died. She had been privy to the tribe's histories. The legends and stories that told of the origin of the Quileute people, how they had become shape shifters and specifically how the form of the wolf had been selected as the shape for the members of the group that protected the tribe.

It had been they who had first encountered vampires in Forks centuries ago. Then again when the Cullens had arrived. I wondered idly if these were stories that Sue would pass on to Charlie or if they would remain secrets of the tribe.

Sue knew about the wolves, the vampires, and was probably aware of the trouble we'd had with the Volturi just last year. I wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that she knew all of the details of that mess from the wolves perspective.

To her credit, Sue, if she did know, didn't let her fears or prejudices interfere with how she felt about Charlie, Renesmee, or us. She had clearly begun to accept us as she and Charlie spent more time around us. Or even with any of the Cullens in general.

The fact that something bad had happened on the reservation was evident when we pulled into town. People were walking around and they looked agitated. Many faces wore dour expressions. Some were more fearful. Word on the reservation traveled fast.

"Pull up at Billy's if you would please," Sue asked quietly.

Edward did as she requested. His Volvo quietly purring down the short gravel road that led to the Black's place. I could hear Charlie's blood pressure rising and one look at him told confirmed what I already knew; this trip was difficult for him.

Many of the pack were gathered around Jacob's home. They were in human form and wearing old cut off jeans or sweats with no shirts and for most no shoes. Some wore cheap sandals that could be easily kicked off when they needed to phase.

My eyes could see a few of the wolves watching us from the cover of the thick timber that forested the land around Jacob's home. I heard Edward whisper to me very quietly, "Rachel hasn't been able to phase back yet. Sam is with her now with Leah and Seth. Jacob is inside with Quil, Embry, and Jared. They know we're here,"

Sure enough, as soon as the motor stopped running Jacob was opening his door to come out and meet us. He ran over and wrapped me up in a tight embrace that would have crushed my ribs if I were still human.

"Oh my God, Bella," Jacob cried.

Returning his hug with equal intensity I answered him, "I know, Jacob. I know."

When Jacob let go of me he was gathered in a big hug from first Sue, then to everyone else's surprise Charlie too. The Quileute are a proud people. Even so, the death of two of their own in so short a time was more than enough to make even the most resolute of them have to acknowledge their grief.

There were tears shed. Some shed them freely. Others, like Charlie, would only let go of one or two at a time and even that was wiped away quickly and quietly. Leah, who had always been cold and distant, came and stood with her mother. Seth stayed in the trees but even he stepped enough into the clearing for us to notice him and nod towards him in acknowledgment.

"How you holding up, Jake?" Charlie asked trying desperately to control the emotion in his voice.

"I'm not doing so well, Charlie," Jacob admitted his voice cracking.

"Well, I'm here for you, son. What can I do?"

Shrugging his shoulders, it was clear that Jacob was at a loss. He was barely functioning. Sue noticed it too. Followed by Leah, she came forward and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. Guiding him back into the house and away from the eyes and ears of those who may not necessarily need to know the full extent of what happened.

Edward and I went into the house after them. We stayed well out of the way of the goings on within the house. We were there for two reasons; moral support and protection. When I thought about it, I was surprised we hadn't thought of it sooner.

This nomad killed with impunity. He moved fast, struck hard, and was gone before there was any chance for him to be caught. It was testimony to the stress that we were all under that the idea for us to protect my dad actually originated with him instead of with one of us.

How do you track a vampire like this nomad? What were his abilities? It seemed he had his share of gifts that he regularly used to his advantage. So far, since all of this had started in Florida, we had reacted to his actions. We've been at his mercy. We needed to do something to tip the scales in our favor. We needed to draw him out so that we could have our chance at him. We needed to make him pay for the pain and suffering he'd brought down on so many people in so short a time. The question was how?


	7. Ch 7 Following Trails

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Chapter 7**

We arrived back home a few hours later. Charlie had gone home and Sue went with him. Both Seth and Leah had followed saying that they wanted to be with their mother. In reality they had volunteered to go to protect their mom and Charlie with her.

The wolves were on high alert. No one was traveling alone. All members of the pack were required to phase and report in every hour. This served the purpose of letting the pack know that all members were accounted for and passing on anything of interest that was found.

For our part, we roamed the city and surrounding forests in pairs or small groups. For safety sake, Edward, Renesmee, and I moved into the main house which made Rosalie quite happy. She had fixed up a small bed in her room for Nessie to use if she wanted.

We combed the woods thoroughly both from on the ground and up in the trees. No sign of the nomad was found. His trail led from the tree where Billy was hung almost directly to the cliffs where he disappeared into the water. From the Oregon Border to Canada we couldn't find any trace of him. While it frustrated the rest of us, Eleazar seemed almost to expect it.

"He is very skilled at what he does. His methods are almost surgical in execution. His attacks are decisive and without hesitation,"

"You admire him," Jasper observed dispassionately.

"I respect him," Eleazar corrected.

"The question is, how do we stop him?" Emmett asked.

"And a good question it is. Since I've not been near him, I've not been able to acertain his powers, but that doesn't mean that I don't have some thoughts as to what he might be,"

"Don't keep us in the dark, what is it?" Alice asked.

"I think he's a shield, or at least has aspects of a shield anyway. To date; Alice hasn't seen him, Edward hasn't heard his thoughts, and even your wolf friends have not seen nor heard him when he attacked. That suggests a shield of some kind, though not like any I've ever heard of," Eleazar explained hesitantly.

"But you don't think that's everything, do you?" Jasper asked entering the room.

"No, I don't. I think he may have other gifts or talents that he's developed as well,"

"Such as?" Emmett prompted him looking like it was just another conversation to him.

"Mind you this is all speculation on my part, I have nothing definitive other than observation and supposition,"

"We understand, Eleazar. Please, go on," Carlisle smiled.

We were all gathered in the living room now, seated around the room. Rosalie was holding Nessie who was sleeping. Emmett was sitting next to her on the arm of the chair. Jasper and Alice were cuddled next to each other on a love seat while Esme, Edward, and I shared the couch. The two large comfy easy chairs in the room were occupied by Carlisle and Eleazar.

Eleazar looked around the room and spoke, "When I was with the Volturi, we would occasionally come across those vampires who either had more than one gift, or a talent that they'd had as a human that they were able to develop even more after they were turned. Things like hunting, tracking, skills that would enable them to choose a prey item and to follow it. This nomad fits this description rather well, don't you think?"

"He does, but how do you explain that he went after Bella's mom first?" Emmett asked.

"I did not say my theory fit everything. Obviously the fact that Bella's mother was targeted first gives credence to the fact that that maybe he was told to find her, or hired to. But then that makes the reason for having this specific nomad all the more apparent. He has skills that someone needs to make use of to get your attention. So to speak as it were,"

"Well he certainly has our attention," Esme said her face showing her stress.

"Do you agree that the Volturi are the ones most likely to be behind this?" Carlisle asked.

"It makes sense that it would either be them or someone looking to curry favor with them,"

"Who would do that?" Esme seemed shocked at the suggestion.

"Can you think of no one?" Eleazar asked.

Carlisle shook his head but Edward's eyes brightened, "Amun would,"

"Edward, we've known Amun for years. What makes you say such a thing?" Esme's face looked horrified at the thought of what Edward was suggesting.

It seemed plausible to me though. Amun had been none too happy with the state of things. He had wanted to leave before the Volturi had arrived and had been the first to leave when the Volturi came to meet us. It made sense to me that Amun might want to do something to gain favor with the Volturi.

"When Amun was here, his loyalty was the one most in question. Aro all but directly threatened him so it makes perfect sense that he would do something to show Aro and the rest of them that he still respects them. Hell, it could even be their way of offering Amun a way to make amends for what they would have seen as treachery on his part,"

"Okay, so that makes Amun one possibility. Can you think of any others?" Carlisle asked.

My thoughts quickly ran through the names of everyone who had come to stand by us when we faced down the Volturi last year. Right away I could weed out Tanya, Kate, Eleazar, Garrett, and Carmen. I also immediately discounted Senna, Kachiri, Huilen, and Neheul. The rest I had to think about a little more.

I didn't think that Peter and Charlotte would do anything to go against Carlisle. Neither Siobahn, Maggie, or Liam seemed like they would be the type to do that either. That left Alistair, Vladimir, and Stephan.

Immediately I discounted Alistair. He was too paranoid and too self centered to try and curry favor with the Volturi. He would be much more likely to spend his years in hiding than he would anything else. Which left Vladimir and Stephan.

It was harder to discount the Romanians. They had been in power once, before the Volturi ascended and removed them. They had known what that power was like and it was clear that they wanted to Volturi gone. It was no secret that they had been disappointed with us when the fight against the Volturi didn't happen. Would they make a move against us because of that? Somehow I didn't think so. Which brought me back to Amun.

As quickly as I ran through the possibilities in my head, Eleazar was already supplying his answer.

"No, of everyone who stood with us last year, no one else fits. Even Amun fits my hypothesis only loosely. He was scared to fight and wanted no part of any confrontation. Still he stood with you even when the Volturi came. While I acknowledge Amun as the most likely of our friends who would turn against you like this, my theory holds that it is the Volturi, either directly or one who works closely with them who are responsible for this,"

"But if it was Aro, I would have seen it," Alice argued.

"And Aro knows you and how your talent works better than you do yourself," Eleazar replied with a shrug, "It could be something as simple as making a passing comment in the presence of one with enough autonomy to do something about it. One of the guard maybe,"

"Jane," Edward hissed.

"She is certainly one who is capable of setting up something like this. Next to Caius, Aro, and Marcus she was the one who was most frustrated by the way her powers could not work against your mate's shield,"

"When we were in Italy a few years ago, Caius made it clear that he had no love for us too," Alice commented thoughtfully, "It was he who declared Bella's life as forfeit for knowing about us."

"But Caius would never- would he?"

"He is certainly capable of suggesting something like this. He has access to all the knowledge that Aro does and a lot less political savvy. The fact that you are now known to consort with werewolves will not be something that settles well with him,"

"No, it wouldn't be given his fear of them," Carlisle noted with a sigh.

"I guess that means when we find this guy, we can ask him who suggested he come after us," Emmett sounded bored.

"You're correct, Emmett. Until this nomad is caught and can be questioned this is nothing more than speculation. Still, it doesn't hurt to think about who might be supplying his motivation,"

"Why is that?" I asked feeling a little confused.

"For the simple reason that if what can determine what gives him cause to attack your family and friends, then maybe we can determine what his next move will be and thus catch him," Eleazar answered.

"Do you think it's possible to be able to predict his movements?" Jasper asked.

I could see by the expression on his face that his mind was quickly working out the possibilities of this. If we could predict where he would be, we could catch him. If we could catch him, then we could put an end to this.

"Certainly. The longer he is here and the more he does, we get a deeper look into who he is and how he thinks. Eventually we will be able to use this knowledge against him,"

"That's great, but how many more people are going to have to die before we can do that?" Emmett asked.

The only answer to that question that Eleazar could provide was a simple shrug.

Midmorning the next day we saw the arrival of Tanya, Kate, and Garrett. We could hear the sound of their car slow down as it approached the driveway and turned up the gravel covered road that led to the house. We gathered outside to await their arrival.

The gold colored Lexus pulled up and stopped. The three "cousins" got out and we embraced them in welcome. I did a double take to see the amber coloring of Garrett's eyes. When last I saw him, his eyes had been crimson. It seemed that he too was adapting to the diet that we all adhered to. From the smiles in his face and Kate's he was adapting to this newest challenge very well.

"Bella!" Garrett said coming forward and sweeping me up into a hug, "it's been too long,"

"Hi Garrett," I replied feeling a little overwhelmed at the exuberance of his hug.

He grinned widely and then stood aside for Kate to come up and give me a hug of her own. Edward was greeted in a similar fashion by them, then Renesmee.

"Little Renesmee! My how you've grown!" Tanya said sweeping a grinning Nessie into her arms.

"Bella, Edward, I think you've been remiss in not brining this little one up to see us," Kate said with a smile.

Garrett slipped his arm around her waist and she leaned her head against his shoulder. Clearly they were a very devoted couple. The matching looks of love and affection the wore when looking at each other reminded me of Edward and I and the feelings we had for each other.

"You two look so happy together," I observed, "I'm glad that there was some happiness to come out of last year for you,"

The sadness that appeared in their faces was clearly still running very deep. Even Garrett, who had become a part of the Denali coven after the events here last year, looked saddened.

Eleazar walked up to him and clapped him on the shoulder, "Yes, we lost our dear sister, but we have gained a brother. I would have preferred not to have lost a sister in the events but that was not to be,"

Kate and Garrett looked at Eleazar and smiled. Tanya too looked pleased by the comment. "Garrett has been a fine addition to our clan,"

We all moved into the house and settled in. We spent some time catching up from the events and things that had happened over the last year. Renesmee went to each of our new arrivals in turn and spent some time with them. She especially liked talking to Garrett.

He would tell her tales of places he'd been and things he'd seen. He was respectful of her and her abilities and seemed to enjoy it when she communicated with him using her unique talent.

"It is good to know that you're education is continuing. It sounds like you enjoy spending time with your mother's books and your father at the piano,"

She nodded and he then winked at us and said to her, "You know, I'm still pretty new to drinking the blood of animals. Where do you like to hunt for them? Do you have a favorite?"

Her hand went to his face and Garrett's eyes glazed over for a moment as she showed him her response to his question. He grinned and looked at Edward, "So you enjoy Mountain Lion like your father. Would you mind showing me this place where you prefer to hunt for them?"

At that suggestion, a small hunting party was put together. Tanya, Carmen, Kate, Edward, and I all decided to go with Garrett and Renesmee on their hunting trip. Even though there was a definite reason for our family to be gathered with us now, we still had to eat. So it was with that thought that we dispersed into the forest.

We quickly moved through the trees and the undergrowth as we navigated to the area where we'd been hunting lately. There was a herd of elk cows close by. The mild winter and the warm spring we'd had made it so that the calves birthed this year were a little more than the area could comfortably sustain.

Moving near their position, Renesmee chose a young bull and then she leapt. It was still a little unnerving to see my daughter, now the size of a ten year old, sailing through the air to land on the neck of a full grown elk. With an efficiency born of practice, she landed on the surprised animals neck and sank her teeth into a thick vein that was near the surface of the skin.

With a quick, strong twist she brought the animal to the ground and was feeding. The young elk struggled to its feet, made it about six steps before stumbling to the ground again. This time it shivered and twitched before lying still.

Glancing at our guests, I couldn't help but smile at the expressions on their faces. Edward's grin matched mine.

"She's come a long way from the child she was just a year ago," Tanya observed.

"That's a little disconcerting to see one so young bring down something so large so quickly," Kate added.

"She is the child of her parents. A mother born to the vampire lifestyle and a father uniquely suited to his child's needs. We see the product of that union before us," Carmen observed as she crossed the small clearing to ogle over Nessie's kill.

We finished our hunt and were leisurely making our way back home when suddenly Edward stiffened.

"What is it?" I asked him.

Instantly we were all on our guard. I noticed how quickly Nessie was moved from the outside of the group to the center. Whatever had alerted Edward and gave him cause to react as he was would have a lot to go through to get to my daughter.

"Edward?" Garrett said moving up next to him.

"I thought I heard someone. Not a voice I've ever heard before but clearly one of us. I only heard it for a second and then it was gone,"

He looked frustrated. I couldn't blame him. If it was the nomad, this marked the first that my husband hand heard him since we'd first encountered him in Florida. Except if it was the nomad, what did this mean? Was he so close that there was no way for Edward not to have heard him? My eyes drifted up towards the trees

Without another thought I jumped up into the boughs above our heads. It took only a second of leaping through the trees from one to the other before I found it. The scent of the nomad.

"He was here!" I shouted.

"Tanya, would you and Kate take Renesmee home please?" Edward asked eyes blazing.

They nodded and disappeared into the trees. Before they were gone more than a dozen meters Edward, Carmen, and Garrett had joined me up in the tree branches. Edward hissed as soon as he joined me.

"I can't believe that he got this close!"

"This is not a scent I recognize," Carmen observed with a frown, "Garrett? You are exceedingly well traveled. Have you come across this scent before?"

Leaning in close to a particular bough, Garrett inhaled deeply. His brow furrowed and he sniffed again, "There is a familiarity to this scent. While I don't think that I've met this nomad, I think I may have crossed his scent in my travels,"

Edward turned his head sharply and looked at Garrett, "Where was this?"

"In France, on the coast of the Mediterranean. It was an old scent then, but not greatly so,"

We started tracing the scent back through the trees. What was scary was that the nomad really did seem to have followed us from high up in the branches. What was worse was that he had done most of his traveling in the higher reaches of the pines, only descending to where Edward had heard his thoughts.

Where was he that he had caught our trail and decided to follow? How close had he gotten? Had he seen my daughter?

Quickly we flew through the trees following the scent of the nomad and tracking him along through the ancient forest. Soon the ground below began to look familiar. A cold chill ran down my spine and with a surge of realization I dropped suddenly from the trees to the forest floor. Five hundred yards away to the east was the cottage that belonged to Edward and I.

Edward uttered a violent exclamation that would have made me blush were I still human. He dropped to the ground next to me and was followed immediately by Carmen and Garrett.

"Edward," I cried, "He's been here,"

"This does not bode well. The scent here is fresh. Less than an hour old I'd say," Garrett said.

The scents of us all were strewn through out this area. Overlapping them all was the nomad and his led right to our front door. We followed where he had been and it was soon apparent that he had been in our home.

Every room had been gone through. He had picked up and handled things in the living room; books, my photo album, pictures, and then proceeded into Nessie's room where he'd gone through her clothes, toys, and even the large diamond necklace that Aro had sent as a wedding gift last year. Finally he'd gone through our room.

Even there he'd handled our clothes, pictures, and other personal items that you would expect to find in a person's home. Standing there in our house and knowing that this nomad had been there, uninvited, made me extremely angry. I felt incredibly violated in ways that I couldn't even begin to describe.

That this nomad had the gall to do this, in our territory, right under our noses was nothing short of a blatant jab at us. It felt like he was daring us to try and find him. To try and do something about him. The message he was sending us was simple; no matter what we tried, we were powerless to stop him. That he could do anything he wanted with impunity and that there was nothing we could do about it. We would see about that.

My vision was turning red and I knew that in this moment the animal that ruled us, the one we had to strive to keep silent, the one that took over when we hunted and fed, growled loudly for revenge. I could hear the angry, threatening rumble in my ears as surely as if Edward had done it standing next to me.

Thinking of my husband, I turned to look at him. His face was a mirror image of my own. He too was feeling the blackest rage, and for good reason. This was his home as well. He'd been violated as much as I had been. Maybe even more so. As protective as he was over us, his family, he would take this as a direct slap in the face.

"We need to get back to the house," Edward hissed.

I saw Garrett and Carmen exchange wary glances. Then Edward continued.

"We need to get a handle on this...this situation. I'd like to put a hunting party together and see if we can't track him down and catch him,"

"Edward," Carmen said putting her hand on his arm, "What if this is exactly what he wants?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What I mean is, what if what he's looking to do is to create a distraction so that he can strike again?"

"Renesmee!" I looked towards the house where Tanya and Kate had taken my daughter.

"I don't think she's his target," Garrett said thoughtfully, "He is probably very well aware of how protected she is. She would be impossible for him to get to without exposing himself and he has already proven that exposing himself is something he takes very seriously,"

"Nevertheless, we need to get over there. This new development is something Carlisle needs to be informed about," Edward gently took my hand and we turned towards the door.

"We should probably tell Jacob too," I added.

We were outside now and walking quickly back towards the main house. I could see Edward's eyes constantly moving, scanning the trees, the undergrowth, the rocks and boulders, everything he could for something that didn't belong.

Right away we knew when we crossed the trail left by Tanya, Kate, and Renesmee. We followed it for about a hundred yards when a newer, very familiar scent also started following theirs in front of us. It was the nomad. He was still here!

Like a shot we took off following the scent of the nomad as he tracked my daughter and the two women with her. When they were just within sight of the house, his trail veered off into the trees while theirs continued onwards.

"He was right behind them!" Edward swore under his breath as he stopped and looked first off in the direction the nomad had gone, then back towards the house.

"You want to track him, don't you?" I asked.

Edward nodded his head and I could see that he was torn. I was about to say something when Garrett himself said; "Edward, why don't you and I follow his trail and see if we can't find out where he went? Carmen and Bella will be fine getting back to the house themselves and they can let everyone know what's going on,"

Looking over at me, then back in the direction the nomad had gone I knew that he very much wanted to take Garrett up on his offer. I decided to intervene.

"Edward, why don't you go with Garrett? Carmen and I will be fine to get back to the house. We'll let everyone know what happened out here and I'll even call Jacob, or maybe Seth and let them know what's going on as well,"

He took me in his arms and kissed me. "Run fast. It would devastate me if anything happened to you,"

Responding to his kiss I pulled him close and answered, "Be careful. I won't rest a minute until you return,"

Nodding his head, Edward glanced at Garrett and together they disappeared into the trees. Carmen and I watched them run and I heard her sigh, "I'm so glad he's finally found his happiness. We had been worried for him for so long,"

"Oh?"

It was nice to have a minute alone with Carmen. It was so rare that I got to talk to others like me, who weren't part of our direct family and who shared our chosen lifestyle. She seemed to have a quiet, easy going manner. I liked her immensely.

"A few years ago, about the time that Edward met you I think, he was visiting us up in Denali. While he was there, Tanya let it be known that she was interested,"

"So that's where he went..." I said.

"Excuse me?" Carmen asked.

I quickly explained to her about my first meeting with Edward and what had happened after that. How he had practically ran from the room and then disappeared for awhile before coming back and resuming school again. I also told her about how I'd learned about him and figured out that he was a vampire. We were just coming to the foot of the stairs when Carmen stopped and smiled.

"It is nice knowing why he had to get back so quickly after arriving to stay with us. Tanya was a little put out over it. Not that she knew anything about you. She wondered though when we'd learned of you if you weren't the reason Edward left and then went back. It is good that he did. She's not right for him. She knows that too and she knew it then. More than anything I think she wanted to see if she could charm him,"

We climbed the steps now and were just turning into the house when Carmen stopped me, "She likes you, you know."

"Tanya?"

"Yes. She thinks you're a perfect match for him,"

Reaching out to me now I let Carmen pull me into a hug. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I returned it and then smiled. "I couldn't imagine my life working out any other way,"

"You have taken to this life remarkably well," Carmen said as we stepped inside.

"Indeed she has," Carlisle said with a smile.

"Where's Dad?" Nessie asked as she ran forward and into my arms.

Glancing up I saw the stressed looks on Kate and Tanya's faces but it was Carlisle who asked, "They said you crossed the trail of the nomad. I assume Garrett and Edward are trying to track him?" "Yes, that's right. It seems as though he's still in the area," I then explained how we'd learned that he'd followed Nessie, Kate, and Tanya almost right to the house.

"What is this?" Kate hissed.

"We told them about how he was at your cottage," Tanya added with an angry gleam in your eye, "It looks as though this one really has his mind set on making life difficult,"

"I need to call Jake," I said reaching for my phone.

As I dialed, I saw Jasper and Emmett walking into the room. While I waited for the line to pick up, I heard Carmen telling them everything that had happened. Before she was finished, they were heading for the door.

"We'll go see if we can't help them," Emmett said as they left.

The phone went to an answering machine, so I left a message.

"Jake, this is Bella. Can you call me when you get this please? It's important. Thanks," I ended the call.

"They're probably putting together Billy's funeral," Alice said.

Smiling at my sister-in-law I nodded, "Probably. I wonder how Charlie is doing today,"

"Fine from what I could tell," Esme answered, "I went into town a little while ago and happened to pass by the police station. He was sitting in there going through some files on his desk,"

It impressed me that Esme would take a moment to check on Charlie for me. I was worried about my Dad. This whole thing these last few days had been very hard on him. Losing my mom and Billy, the death of Desmond, learning about me and what I really was (or very close to it), and of course he wasn't getting any younger. When would it all be too much for him? It made me shudder to even think about.

We started talking about the implications of the nomad and this latest action that he was taking. Carlisle was quite as disturbed as we were when he'd learned the extent of the nomad's intrusion into our home.

Esme's face, which had always been so kind and compassionate, took on a hostile look that was completely foreign to her features at the mention of the nomad handling the things in Nessie's room.

This was not surprising. Children were one thing that Esme had always wanted. She had been denied that chance when she'd become a vampire. Later, she'd become something of an adoptive mother of Edward, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie. When Edward and I married, she'd adopted me too as one of her own.

Since the birth of my daughter, Renesmee, Esme had finally had a child in the house as she'd always wanted. She was as loving and caring of my daughter as if she were her own. She was also just as protective. So to hear that the nomad had been in our house, in Nessie's room, angered her just as quickly and just as intensely as it had Edward and I.

Nessie knew that something was going on that in some way involved her. As the conversations grew more intense, I watched her become more and more distressed. Eventually she ended up sitting with me on the couch. Her eyes were wide and she took in everything and everyone in the room.

Finally, after things got to be more than she could handle, Renesmee reached up and touched my face. I saw everyone, including myself, from her point of view. She replayed the events of the day for me and as everything transpired the two senses that stood out were fear and curiosity.

Like the rest of us, she wanted to know why the nomad was here and why it was he was concentrating his efforts on disturbing us and making our lives difficult. Our reactions to him and what he was doing scared her. She now felt less than safe in her own home, with her own family. It angered me that my daughter had to feel this way. What angered me even more was that I felt so powerless to stop it.

A few hours after Edward and Garrett had gone to track the nomad, Seth showed up with Embry and Quill. I knew right away that something must have been wrong. Why else would Jacob send his best friends and Seth instead of returning my call or coming himself to see Nessie?

"Hey Bella," Seth said upon walking in, "Edward around?"

His eyes were scanning the room. Looking over at Embry and Quill I noticed that they too were looking around the room and everyone in it. Looking closer at Seth, I could see the tension in his shoulders and the way he clinched his jaw. Something was definitely wrong.

"No he's not. Right now he, Garrett, Jasper, and Emmett are out hunting for the nomad. We came across a fresh trail today and they wanted to see if they couldn't catch him,"

Coming over to sit next to me on the couch, Seth smiled at Nessie. Except that I could see that it didn't reach his eyes. Quill and Embry stayed where they were at by the door.

"Hey Guys, how's it going?" I asked them with a smile.

It wasn't lost on my that Carmen, Kate, and Tanya were standing very still. Too still. They were reading the tension that was being exuded by our newest visitors. Even the other members of my family knew that something was off. It was time to find out what was going on.

"Hey Bella," Quill smiled at me. Embry just waved.

"There's a problem on the res. Jake's got his hands full with his dad's funeral. Your Dad and Sue are helping him with that. While all of that's going on, we've been running patrols. This stranger that keeps coming around has been all over the reservation. Sam and some of the others are trying to track him now,"

"He's been out on the reservation?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah, he's been all over. He's visited the houses of all the members of the pack, the places that we like to meet as a group, where we go cliff jumping, the beach at La Push, he's run all our regular patrol routes, and he's even been through town a couple times," Seth answered her.

"And now he's running around our territory too," I quickly explained to them what had happened this morning.

Quil and Embry stood up straight and looked around the room at us. Seth's eyes got big and wide. He looked Nessie sitting in my lap and said, "Jake's not going to like knowing about this,"

"I know that. That's why we were hoping to get a handle on it before bringing it to his attention. He has enough to deal with right now as it is," I replied.

"What is it with this guy?" Seth asked, "What's his problem? Does he just not like us or something?"

Carlisle answered from where he was standing, "He seems to feel as if he's on a mission of some kind. We don't know why yet so all we can do is speculate on that,"

The wolves looked even more upset than they were when they first came. Quil looked around and asked, "What about Forks? Has he been there?"

"Forks?" Alice asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean if he's been here, Bella's house, the reservation, and at Charlie's, what about the rest of town? He seems to be pretty thorough, wouldn't he want to check out other places that Bella might have been?"

We all looked at each other and the tension in the room escalated even more. What Quil was suggesting made perfect sense but none of us apparently had thought about it. We were too wrapped up in the goings on in our own back yard to think about everyone in town. What would happen if the nomad struck there?

That set my mind racing, looking for answers. If the nomad killed someone in town, then Charlie really would have to become involved. There was no way he couldn't and no way we could stop him. What was more, if someone were killed in Forks it wouldn't be nearly as easy to keep that kind of thing out of the news. And if enough people were killed there, then it would draw attention from outside. Possibly even from as far away as Italy and that was something we definitely did not want.

"I haven't come across anything at the hospital," Carlisle said carefully.

"And I didn't either when I was in town the other day," Esme added thoughtfully.

"Has anyone done a deliberate search?" Kate asked.

No one had. Kate swore under her breath and turned towards me, "Bella? Would you and Alice like to accompany me into town?"

"I'll go with you," Tanya added.

"I would not have presumed to speak for you, sister." Kate nodded at Tanya who nodded back with a smile.

"We will go into town on a little shopping foray. Bella, maybe you can show me the house where your father lives. We'll drive around and see if we can't cross this nomad's scent somewhere,"

"I'd like to go," Alice said with a smile.

She ran to her room for her purse and came back with one for me. We went to my cottage so that I could put my ID, some money, credit cards and a few other things inside it. As we drew near my cottage, Alice made a face.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You can tell he really spent a lot of time around here, can't you?"

It angered me to even think about it, "Yes,"

"Don't worry, Bella. We'll get him," Kate said.

"He won't come near your daughter we can promise you that," Tanya added.

After I'd stocked the purse with the things I'd need for a trip into town, we walked back up to the main house and got into my old Mercedes. Edward had decided to keep it after Renesmee was born. This was one decision that I fully supported.

As a half human, no one knew exactly how strong or how vulnerable Nessie actually was. Of course no one wanted to test that either. So we did the next best thing. We took every reasonable precaution we could which included keeping the Mercedes Guardian that Edward had leased for me after we decided to get married.

It was a car that was big enough to hold us all, had plenty of power and speed, and best of all had the tinted windows that would obscure us and the fact that we were vampires should the sun decide to shine in our windows.

Once the engine was started and running, we pulled out of the garage and headed towards town. The way was clear and had remarkably little traffic. We talked a little as we drove.

Kate and Tanya again extended the invitation for Edward and I to bring Nessie up to Denali to visit. They told us of the animals up there that were available for hunting. The long clear views of nearly unspoiled land. And the fact that the human population there was so sparse, and where they lived so remote, that contact with humans didn't happen very often.

When we got into town, Kate asked to be shown where Charlie lived. So we drove by the house that I'd known since I was born. His cruiser was gone and the driveway looked barren. We pulled up to the house and stopped.

We got out of the car and looked around. The odor of the nomad was still there but thankfully it wasn't fresh today. This was good. It meant that he hadn't been around here again. As we walked around the house I showed them around where I used to live.

I took them inside and showed them the house. It was a relief to find that the nomad's scent wasn't present here. Since Kate had expressed interest in seeing where I lived, I showed her the rest of the house, including where my room had been.

Tanya and Alice followed at a distance letting me describe to them all about what my life had been like as a teenage human girl. It took me some time to come to the conclusion that for them, they were living vicariously through me. It had been so long for them, any of them, since they had been human. It was a way for them to get a hint maybe of what their own lives could have been like.

We finished in the house and went back out to the car. Once inside we got the car started and moved on into town. I drove past the police station and saw Charlie's cruiser parked in it's usual spot. Finding a place to park nearby in a little group of shops, we got out and walked around town.

At first the effort seemed futile. There was nothing anywhere of note. Then as we were nearing the place where Mike Newton's parents sporting goods shop was, we found it. The scent of the nomad and it was less than a day old.

On edge now, we followed the trail to the Newton's shop. He'd walked by, but not inside. At least not the front door anyway. He had gone around the store and I'd bet the income the Cullens made in a year, which was enough to support a small country for that amount of time, that he'd gone up on top of the store. We just had no way to check this out without alerting people to our presence which was not something that we wanted to do.

The trail of the nomad didn't stop at the store either. He'd gone by the Newton's home, my old high school, the store where I'd done my shopping, the diner where I'd eaten so many meals with Charlie, and the houses of Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber.

Every time we found a place where he'd been, my anger grew just that much more. It's like he was stalking me. Trying to learn everything he could about me, or at least everything he didn't know already.

Alice had her phone out and in her hand.

"Carlisle, he's been here, in town. The nomad has gone to every place in Forks where Bella spent any time,"

She listened for a moment then went on, "No, we've not been past the hospital yet. You're right, with as much time as Bella spent there it only makes sense to look. We'll call you when we know more,"

Ending the call with a little beep she looked at us, "Carlisle thinks the hospital should be the next place we check. You have to admit, you spent enough time there,"

At the looks of Kate and Tanya, I smiled sheepishly.

"I was a bit uncoordinated before I became a vampire," I explained.

"A bit? Bella, your file is thicker than anyone else's in the hospital who doesn't have some major disease or isn't much older than you," Alice was shaking her head in exasperation.

Tanya raised an eyebrow, "You seem to have weathered the experience well,"

"Not for lack of trying. Edward had his hands full trying to keep her alive," Alice smiled and started ticking off things on her fingers, "Almost getting crushed by a car, slipping on the ice, the sand, the mud, spiking volleyballs wildly out of control at other students, dropping plates, knives, or cliff diving when she thinks no one is looking. If it wasn't Edward it was Jacob. Honestly, after you moved here I don't think either one of them relaxed much before you became one of us,"

"But look at her now. It's as if she were born to this life," Kate observed with a keen eye.

This discussion took place as we drove back through town to the hospital. In their parking lot it was easy to park, get out and walk around the building without nearly the risk of being noticed.

Carlisle's sent was easy enough to distinguish since we all knew it so well. Oddly enough though, for as much time as I had spent in the hospital, the nomad's presence was conspicuously lacking.

Looking at Alice and Kate it was clear to see that they found this as odd as I did. Tanya however looked like she had an opinion on it. I asked her why she wasn't surprised and her reply was as obvious as it was spine chilling;

"It's simple when you think about it. Every place this nomad has gone was somewhere where people who might mean something to you would be. The hospital is the sole exception to that. The only person who means anything to you here, is Carlisle. Being a vampire himself and thus much harder to kill than a simple human, it would do the nomad any good to come here,"

"So you mean...?" I asked.

"What I'm saying is that he is likely looking around to see who among your friends is still here in Forks. He's likely looking for his next target."


	8. Ch 8 Losing Control

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Chapter 8**

The fact that the nomad was looking for his next target and that he was doing everything he could to make sure that the target would in some way have something to do with me made me angry. More than angry. I was enraged.

In many ways this was worse than when Victoria was hunting me. Though she too was out to kill; I was her only intended target. This nomad was completely different. He was perfectly fine with killing people and it seemed the more people the better. Especially if they could be related back to me.

We were leaving the hospital and the road we were on passed near the high school. I was driving and the others were talking back and forth about the nomad and the things he was doing. Edward hadn't called or texted and neither had anyone else.

It was a little disconcerting that they hadn't tried to contact us. Were they on to something? Had they found him? Or had something happened that we had yet to hear about? What did it mean that it was taking them so long to call?

These were the thoughts that were going through my head when I heard Alice gasp; "Bella, no!"

We all looked at Alice whose eyes were staring straight ahead now. She was in a trance, her vision looking forward at something that had yet to happen. Except I didn't have a chance to find out what it was.

Movement over Alice's shoulder in the alley outside the car caught my attention. There was what looked like a fight going on. Looking closer and making full use of my enhanced vision as a vampire, I saw that it was three kids from the high school picking on another one.

As enraged as I already was, this was the wrong thing for me to see at the wrong time. I didn't even think, I acted. Before anyone else could blink, I was out of the car. My vision was crimson as the beast within took over. Protecting our secret didn't even occur to me.

I was among them long before anyone had a chance to register it. Now that I was behind them I had a much clearer picture. The three bullies were kids who were seniors now. They would have been juniors when I was in school. The kid they were picking on would have been a sophomore. It was clear right away that he was a little different. That he was being singled out by these other three for something he had no way to help really registered with me.

This assessment was undertaken in the briefest space of time. Ready for action now I just stood there with my arms crossed and growled at them; "Why don't you boys go and pick on someone your own size,"

Almost as one they turned to look at me. I could hear their heartbeats pick up and saw the flush of blood pool tantalizingly in the cheeks of the one they were picking on. I realized I didn't even know their names. At that moment I didn't care.

"Bella?" Their eyes were wide and the three looked me over like they were appraising my appearence.

I smiled at them humorlessly, "Why don't you push me around like that?"

Of the three, the largest one's face was flushing even more now, and the beast in me roared. I was fighting for control.

"Oh this? This is nothing. Don't worry about it," he said.

He had blond hair just a little darker than Jasper's. When he leered at me I snapped, "Nothing? It doesn't look like nothing to me," and I pushed him.

This was my mistake. He was lifted off the ground and sailed through the air several feet before slamming into the building behind him. He fell to the ground and didn't get up. The others looked at me and their eyes were wide and horrified.

"What did you...?" But he had no chance to finish it.

Reaching out I picked him up off the ground like I would a piece of paper. To me he even weighed just as much. I slammed him down and then turned on the last one. He was running full out down the alley. Even from here I could hear the panicked beating of his heart.

I turned to look at the one they were picking on but didn't get a chance to say anything. Something flashed by me and when I turned to look, Kate was on him. She was taking him down. The sound of feet behind me made me turn. Alice and Tanya were there looking horrified. That's when the gravity of what I'd done hit me.

"Oh my..." I whispered.

Alice looked at the kid standing next to us. He was frozen in fear. Who could blame him? Four beautiful women suddenly appear out of nowhere and rescue him from what had to be a nightmare situation with another nightmare. One with the potential of being a thousand times worse.

"I'm calling Carlisle," Alice said quickly with her phone already to her ear.

The kid who the bullies were picking on was still standing there frozen. His poor heart was going a mile a minute. Who could blame him though after what he'd just seen? Looking to calm the situation and buy myself a few minutes before he started screaming, I smiled at him.

"You can relax now," I told him trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

This had the opposite effect. His heart, already running a staccato beat, simply picked up it's pace even more. The kid began hyperventilating. Then, before I knew it, he slumped to the ground.

"Poor thing," Tanya whispered looking at him with a bemused expression, "Best thing for him really. At least now when he wakes up he's more likely to think it was some sort of dream,"

"They're alive," Kate said with a sigh.

She had checked over all three young men who were now lying piled up against the wall of a building.

"For now," Tanya added as she looked them over with a dispassionate eye.

Minutes later Carlisle arrived with Eleazar. He was calm as he looked over each one of the unconscious boys. The one that I'd thrown first got the most attention, "Cracked skull, possible hemorrhaging, likely a concussion. He needs medical attention,"

"Carlisle...I'm..." His look silenced me.

It was one of pure understanding. No censure, no disappointment, no disgust. I've never felt lower or more guilty for something I'd done. Of course, I should have known that he would understand. That didn't help me to feel any better.

"So what do we do, Carlisle?" Alice asked.

"That depends on Bella," Carlisle said looking at me, "You said that you were talking and Bella jumped out of the car to interfere in a human altercation. What happened exactly?"

His eyes turned on me and I had nothing to say. My mind was blank.

"Bella, you exposed these young men to our world. What happens to them is now your responsibility. I know this is hardly the time or place to have this happen but you need to decide and quickly."

"I don't know what to do," My voice was almost a whimper.

"Well this one with the concussion may not survive very long without medical intervention," Eleazar said quietly.

The way he was looking at me made me feel like he was assessing me. I hoped fervently that whatever it was he found met with his approval. I couldn't think of anything worth finding at the moment.

"They were just bullying him. It was three against one. After everything that we've been through lately, I saw it and I lost control. I'm so sorry,"

"What are our options, Carlisle?" Kate asked.

"There aren't many. We can turn them. It would at least alleviate the worry that they know about our world,"

"But they're so young!" Tanya clearly had her reservations on this idea.

"That they are. They would also likely have family that would miss them which complicates things even further," Eleazar agreed.

"I thought you were supposed to have this super self control," Kate growled.

"Now is not the time for that, Kate," Eleazar said quietly, "I'm sure Bella feels bad enough as it is,"

"Be that as it may, we still have this mess to clean up," Tanya replied.

"Not to mention the fact that if the nomad is tracking people close to Bella, he now has three new targets to choose from. That makes them our responsibility," Alice said with a sympathetic glance at me.

So it would be my decision. What could I do? These boys didn't ask to become vampires the way that I had. Until now they'd had no clue of our existence. Now they had not only been exposed to our world, which in and of itself could be a death sentence for them, they possibly had targets on their backs now because of the nomad.

The nomad. It was so easy to blame him for this mess. Even now my hatred of him grew exponentially as I thought of the fact that if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even be in town today.

Except that it was more complicated than that. What had been done had been done by me, not the nomad. It was my choice to jump out of the car. It was my choice as well to interfere in the affairs of these human boys. That standing up for the one being bullied was the honorable thing to do didn't excuse the crime that had been committed. It just made things all the worse.

"What if," Alice said, "What if we had Edward come home and listen to the thoughts of these boys? See what kind of damage was done? It may be that they'll just draw their own conclusions and then that leaves us out of the picture,"

"You're forgetting the nomad," Kate said, "What about him?"

"We can't protect them, and Charlie, and the people on the reservation, and the rest of the town," Tanya added.

"But these children didn't ask for what happened to them," Carlisle said plainly, "We can't let them assume a risk for something they shouldn't even know anything about,"

"Can we call Edward?" I asked, "I want to know what's in their thoughts before I do anything. They don't deserve...they don't deserve something they didn't ask for,"

"Fair enough," Carlisle nodded, "What about this one? He really needs medical attention,"

"Then lets get it for him," Alice said, "It's the right thing to do,"

Leave it to Alice. She was so good at helping in these situations. I nodded my agreement and Carlisle picked up the boy and put him in his car. "I'll think of something plausible to tell them at the hospital. Call Edward, have him meet you here. However if they wake up you'll have to find some way of dealing with them,"

"We will," I said.

We had to. This whole situation was my fault. I felt so horrible about it. All I wanted to do was to rage and run and strike out at the one who had started this whole mess. Except no one knew where he was. That made striking out at him impossible. I sighed.

Looking up I saw Alice holding out her cell phone to me, "Just press the button,"

Her smile was sympathetic. She knew me too well. Alice knew how bad I felt and I appreciated her help now in trying to make things right. This was a situation that never should have happened. Some sense of super self control I had.

Taking the phone from Alice, I hit the button and waited for the answer.

"Alice?" Edward answered on the second ring.

"It's me," I said, my voice sounded low.

"What's wrong?"

"There's been an...incident," I didn't know how else to describe it.

"What happened? Where are you?" The alarm in his tone was impossible to miss.

"I'm in town. We came to see if we could find out where the nomad has been here. We came across something and..."

"And what?"

"Just come. We're in an alley about three blocks from the school. Alice, Kate, and Tanya are here with me. Carlisle and Eleazar took someone to the hospital,"

"I'm on my way,"

He must be running as fast as he could. I could hear the wind whistling in the phone. The call ended and I handed the phone back to Alice. Then I went to look over the boys. The one who had been bullied had blond hair, glasses, and a bit of a pot belly.

Looking closer I could see marks on his hands and arms. Some were older than others. There were fading bruises on this child's face and in his hair. Clearly he was no stranger to being picked on. My heart went out to him. What must his life have been like?

Turning to the two bullies that were lying on the ground, I looked them over as well. Even though Forks is a small town, with a small high school population, it was still big enough that I'd never seen these boys before except in the halls at school. I'd not had any classes with them. I didn't even know their names.

"What did you do to him?" I asked Kate as I gestured towards the boy she'd taken down.

"Knocked him out. It was the easiest way to stop him without killing him," She answered directly.

Given the strength we had as vampires, I knew that it wouldn't have taken much. She smiled at me with understanding.

"Bella, it happens. Even to the best of us," She said.

"Not to Carlisle,"

"No, not to Carlisle. But even so, you didn't kill them and its not like you were out hunting for them. You were already upset and seeing this only exacerbated the problem. You acted out of kindness, not hunger," Tanya explained, "You've made a mistake, yes. Own it. Accept it. Honor it by learning from it and letting it go. There is nothing more to be done,"

"Tanya, one of these boys may die," I argued.

"Yes, he might. And if it wasn't from you taking action here today, then tomorrow it would have been a car accident. Or eating some bad food. Or a brain aneurism. You cannot beat yourself up over this,"

Kneeling down to look closer at the boy Kate had taken down, I saw that he was breathing and even looked like he could have been asleep. To be thorough I checked out the other bully. He was a lot like his friend.

Out cold of course. They both dressed similarly. Neither one looked like they'd had an easy life. I could just imagine the kind of havoc they'd wreck if they were turned. But would it be kinder to kill them? Could I do that?

No. Of course I couldn't. They were human beings just like I had been just a little more than a year ago. I couldn't do it. Their lives and whether or not they would keep them was not a decision I was willing to make. I was not a God and I was not willing to play that role.

Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Garrett arrived a few short minutes later. My husband's eyes went wide when he saw the still unconscious boys lying on the ground near us. He looked up at me and then the next thing I knew I was in his arms.

"What happened?" He whispered.

It took only a minute to explain everything to him. He hissed when he heard what we'd discerned about the nomad. It turned out our luck had been better than his. However that hiss turned into an understanding smile when he heard about what happened when I saw the boys and their altercation.

"Now you can understand," He said.

"Understand what? What it means to nearly kill someone?"

"No love, to lose control. This is the first time where you've really done that. We all of us have at one time or another. It's an inevitable part of what we are. It's what we do to tame the beast that matters," Edward said gently.

"That doesn't tell me how to deal with them," I replied.

"Well, whatever it is you're doing, you need to figure it out soon. This one," Alice pointed towards the pudgy kid who had been the target of the bullies, "Will be waking up in about five minutes and forty seven seconds,"

Before we could get any farther towards making a decision however, Alice's phone rang. She looked at it before handing it to me. It was Carlisle.

Steeling myself for what I might hear, I answered the line; "Hello?"

"Bella, just who I wanted to talk to,"

"How is he Carlisle?" I asked quietly.

"He'll be fine. He's got a pretty severe concussion and says he cannot remember anything after going down the alley with his friends to pick on one of the other kids; Jerry Kimble. The hospital needs to keep him overnight for observation but he should be fine to go home in a day or two,"

The sense of relief I felt was palpable, "Thank you, Carlisle,"

"I'm glad this one turned out to be a happy ending," He said before ending the call.

Turning towards the others I informed them of what had happened. Edward smiled at me and Alice grinned, "That's great, Bella! That could have been a lot worse!"

"Could have been? I hardly think this is good news," Kate said quietly.

"Kate!" Tanya chided her sister, "What a thing to say!"

"Is it? The nomad now just has a new target that has been practically gift wrapped for him. What are we going to do about that?"

"One of us will have to watch him," Emmett shrugged.

"So that's one down," Kate quipped.

"You're not helping, Kate," Eleazar said.

She looked at him a moment before saying, "No, you're right. I'm probably not. But that doesn't make what I said any less true,"

"No, it doesn't. But now our responsibility is to these boys until such time as we're sure that they won't need watching,"

Jerry started moving and we all stopped to watch him. Any second now he'd be awake and he'd be needing some answers.

"Edward," I said urgently, "What do I do?"

"He's not conscious enough yet to be able to tell what's on his mind. All I'm seeing now is just a flurry of images. Unfortunately you're present in most of them,"

This didn't help things.

"That doesn't change the question," I grumbled.

"No, it doesn't. But there's really only two choices to look at; turn him, or not,"

"I'm not going to take away his choice," I answered.

"Love, he may no longer have a choice," Edward's answer was patient and kind.

"I know. Alice, can you see anything for his future?" I asked my new sister hopefully.

"Bella, right now I don't see much at all. There's so many choices here that all I get are flashes,"

"What kind of flashes?" Emmett asked nonchalantly.

"Nothing that is going to help. I see as many with this boy as a vampire as I do with him being human,"

"Well, if he's human he must not be on the nomad's list," Jasper said.

"Except that there is no way to guarantee that, is there?" Kate asked.

"Not really, no," Alice looked disappointed.

"Which brings us back to our original question; what do we do with them?" Jasper asked.

"Couldn't we just ask them?" I asked.

"Yes Bella, we could. But then what are you doing to do if they make a choice that you don't agree with?"

The answers to that weren't comfortable to think about.

"What if we just leave and go away?"

"And allow them to come to their own conclusions?" Tanya asked.

"Yes,"

"You're forgetting the nomad," Jasper interjected, "If what you say is true, then he's become very adept at tracking you and those who know you. That will now include these boys,"

"So tell me what to do then!" I cried.

No one seemed to want to do that and I didn't have a clue as to what to do. Then Emmett said something that really annoyed me, "You could just kill them,"

"What's that?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"Not helpful, Emmett," Edward said flatly.

"Well sure, they'd be missed. But it would solve the problems you're facing wouldn't it?" Emmett shrugged.

The sad thing was no one had any better suggestions. When the boy started moving around and groaning, we froze for a moment.

"Maybe everyone should go back to the car for a few minutes," Edward suggested, "Except maybe you and I. He'll recognize us from school,"

The others quickly walked back to the car and got in. Edward and I stayed by Jerry while he woke up. The other two were still out cold. Edward leaned in close to me and said, "Let me handle this. I'll know right away if he believes what I tell him,"

Remembering vaguely my experience the first time I'd seen Edward's strength and speed as a Vampire, I knew he had a lot more knowledge with what to do for this kind of situation than I did.

Jerry's eyes fluttered open and I watched them from several feet away as they focused on his surroundings.

"B-bella? Edward? What happened?" He asked trying to sit up.

Right away my husband moved forward and put on an air of a concerned bystander, "Are you okay?"

Jerry nodded his head slowly. He looked like he had a headache. I could hear his heart beating and his pulse quickened as he looked around and saw the other two.

"Did...did you do that?" Jerry asked me.

"Did we do what?" Edward asked him kindly.

Jerry looked confused and shook his head; "That must have been some..."

"Must have been some what?" I prodded.

Looking up at me Jerry's eyes widened, "Bella, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Jerry, what's up?" He wouldn't have heard the caution in my tone but Edward did. He winked at me as Jerry went on.

"Did you by chance...never mind, that's crazy,"

"It looks like you got beat up pretty good," Edward said feeding into Jerry's direction of thought, "Maybe you hit your head,"

"I must have done, because I could have sworn that Bella just appeared out of nowhere and threw those guys around like she was...like she was Supergirl or something," Jerry shook his head again and placed it carefully in his hands.

"We pulled those jerks off of you, maybe that's what you saw,"

"You did?" Jerry asked, his eyes going wide.

I caught my mistake. I'd said 'we' instead of just Edward alone.

"Well I did most of it really. Bella stood up to them though. When they didn't back off that's when I stepped in," Edward said smoothly.

Looking from me, to Edward, and back to me again, Jerry nodded with a hint of a smile forming on his face.

"Yeah...Yeah! That must be it. Thank you. Thanks for, well, for helping me out,"

"You're welcome," Edward said helping Jerry to his feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

Jerry only shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his head. It looked like it pained him.

"I better get home now," He said.

"Do you need a ride?" Edward asked with concern.

"No, I'll get home alright. I only live about another block from here," He replied.

"Are you sure? Its no problem," I offered him.

"No, thank you though. And...and thanks for helping me too," He smiled shyly and shuffled off towards his home.

When he was out of ear shot, Edward turned towards me.

"He's a bit slow, which is likely why these others were picking on him. It was easy enough to guide his thinking the way we did. Somehow I don't think we'll be as lucky with these two,"

His voice was hard and he clearly didn't think much of other two boys lying in the alley. That we had yet to be discovered was something close to a miracle. When I mentioned it to my husband, he readily agreed with me.

"We need to do something. They'll be waking up soon. Their thoughts are starting to become more coherent and they're not happy,"

"So how do we handle this?" I asked.

"Let me think for a minute," Edward said as he studied the two boys.

I watched him as he thought and grew curious as a slow smile spread across his face. Checking to make sure the coast was clear, he looked at me and said, "Help me here,"

"What are we doing?"

"Open that dumpster will you, please?" He said as he removed the coats off the two boys.

"What are you doing?" I was completely shocked.

"I'm throwing out the trash," He chuckled, "But the way that I'm doing it will make them very uncomfortable when they wake up. I'd wager with Emmett and Jasper both on this one and give them very good odds that this works,"

When their shirts and pants were off and the boys were in their underwear, he simply lifted them up off the ground and placed first one, then the other gently in the dumpster. He tossed their clothes in with them and then grinned at me.

"What?" I asked feeling completely shocked.

"Well, they're very insecure about themselves. Waking up half naked in a dumpster together is sure to give them cause for alarm. Given the direction of their thoughts and the way they think about things, this whole experience will be something they'll be anxious to forget and put behind them.

I'd bet a new Ferrarri for anyone that wants to take it that this works like a charm. It will also mean that they leave the Kimble boy alone too. They'll be very unsure of what he knows and scared to death that if he knows something that he talk might talk about it. Especially after the way they've treated him,"

"So..."

"So I'm using their own insecurities against them to gain their silence about what happened here. That it puts them in a situation that will be more than a little awkward for them as well as making them very uncomfortable with things seems to me like a little poetic justice. Maybe they'll think twice before bullying someone else," Edward explained.

He seemed so enthusiastic about the idea that I couldn't help but smile. Then another thought occurred to me; "What about the nomad?"

Now that we were finished we were walking back to our cars, "We'll watch them, but I don't think he'll do anything. His targets seem to be more directed at you personally. This here today he might find curious, but given his pattern so far I don't think it will amount to anything other than that."

Feeling immensely better about things, I climbed into my car and he into his. Starting the engine I pulled out of the alley and headed towards home. It had been a long day.

Back at the house we were met by Carlisle and Eleazar who reported that the prognosis looked good for Blaine Neal. His memory of the event was still very sketchy which was what we needed to make sure our little ruse worked.

Renesmee was happy we were home and there was even a message waiting from Jacob. Billy's funeral would be held on Saturday, three days from now. There was a specific request for Edward, Nessie, and I to attend, though anyone in the family who wanted to go would be welcome as far as he was concerned.

It was decided that we three would go along with Carlisle and Esme. The rest would send their condolences but otherwise would stay away from the reservation. Really it was for the best.

Too many of the Quileute people distrusted us for us all to go. It was a senseless predjudice but one that went back for generations. Besides the five of us who were attending the funeral, the rest would honor the treaty and thereby maintain what trust we had with them.

The conversation then turned back to the nomad who was the cause of all this mess in the first place. Alice, Kate, Tanya, and I reviewed everything that we had learned in town. We went over the routes we'd taken and the trails we'd discovered.

Jasper seemed very interested to learn of this and Eleazar and he got into a very deep discussion about it. When it was Edward's turn to review what he had learned it became clear that the nomad was very adamant about knowing the area in which he hunted.

Jasper, in a bit of inspired thinking, got out a map of the Olympic Peninsula and using a pencil we determined that he was effectively making his own grid of the entire region. He had concentrated on the town and the area in which we lived, but had also made himself knowledgeable about the rest of the surrounding region as well.

"Like any good soldier, he's learning the lay of the land. He's figuring out places to hide, observe, hunt, and to strike. By now he probably knows the surrounding landscape as well as we do," He said with a thoughtful nod.

"Do you think he has some kind of military experience?" Carlisle asked.

"Possibly," Answered Eleazar and Jasper together.

"This certainly speaks to some kind of training," Jasper went on.

"It's very methodical. Almost a perfect grid," Eleazar added.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Well, if he thinks like a soldier then chances are good that he'll act like one," Eleazar finished.

"People are creatures of habit," Carlisle said.

"Yes, they are. And vampires are no different," Edward finished.

"Does this help us?" Esme asked.

"Possibly. If he's a soldier and acts like one, then it makes it a little easier to predict his actions," Jasper went on.

"Which means we can lay a trap for him," Alice smiled savagely, "I like it,"


	9. Ch 9 The Trap is Sprung

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Chapter 9**

Over the course of the next two days, we made regular checks on Jerry and the three bullies we'd stopped from picking on him. What we were concerned about was whether or not the nomad would hunt them since our scent would be around them but that turned out to be a baseless worry.

One positive thing to come out of that situation though was that as Edward had hoped, the bullies started leaving Jerry Kimble completely alone. They were also barely talking to each other and certainly weren't talking to anyone else. Our secret was safe. For now anyway.

That's not to say that the nomad hadn't been curious. He had in fact gone by their homes but had done nothing more than stand outside briefly before moving on. His movements around town were also becoming more random. He still kept to his grid and he moved through it with almost laser like precision, with the exception of going past the houses of Jerry Kimble and his tormentors.

Together with some of the wolves from the pack, we started running regular patrols. We ran them through the town and around the house. The wolves ran patrols around the reservation and then we ran them together around the entire area. As always the nomad was a step ahead of us.

We didn't see him or hear him but we knew he was there. His presence was something we knew about due to the fresh scent trail he left behind him everywhere he went. He let us know he was aware of the fact we were following him too.

Every now and again his trail would lead past Charlie's house or the Police Station. There was even one time where he'd sat on the hood of the police cruiser that Charlie drove too. He was playing with us and we knew it. But that didn't mean we weren't doing something about it.

Working from the assumptions we made the day I lost control, we had decided to lay a trap for him. However to make it work the way we needed it to, it meant that we would need the entire wolf pack. So, the decision was made to wait until after Billy's funeral.

Jacob surprised us by coming over to the house himself. He looked like a mess. He was obviously very shaken up by the death of his father, but this was scary. A fact that Nessie was quick to share with me.

When her small hand touched my face upon seeing Jacob, the vision I saw was of Jacob from her point of view which was tinged with joy at seeing him and equally as strong, worry about the drastic sudden changes in his appearance and attitude. The change was so blatant that it was like looking at a shadow of the person that Nessie once knew.

He smiled when he saw her and when she returned it, you could clearly see the worry in Renesmee's eyes. She jumped down off my lap and ran up to him. He barely had time to get his arms open to receive her before Nessie was inside them and Jacob buried his face in her hair.

"Hey, Ness..." He mumbled.

She put her hand on his cheek and was quiet for a minute.

"Yeah, I'm real sad," He looked at Edward and I.

"How are you, Jacob?" Carlisle asked as he entered the room.

Our Denali cousins had retreated to the back of the room. Clearly they wished to be unobtrusive and respectful of Jacob and his need to grieve. Esme came forward and gave Jacob a gentle, warm hug.

"I'm...dealing with things," Jacob replied honestly.

"Of course," Carlisle replied sympathetically.

"I came to make sure you know that you're invited to the funeral," Jacob said to us, "All of you,"

"That's very kind Jacob," Esme replied.

"Indeed, thank you for the invitation," Eleazar nodded from across the room.

Looking meaningfully at Jasper, I nodded my head ever so slightly to Jacob. He caught what I was hinting at because soon after that you could feel a general sense of calm and well being flood the room. It started gradually but got stronger as time went on.

Jacob seemed either to not notice that Jasper was using his abilities, or he knew but didn't care. Either way, it worked. Soon enough Jacob's smile returned and not long after that he was talking animatedly to Nessie, Edward, and I about the goings on of the pack and things back on the reservation.

"So, lay out for me this plan of yours," Jacob told Edward.

"Well it was Jasper who came up with the idea, we should let him explain,"

Eleazar stepped into the room now followed by Kate and Tanya. Alice, Emmett, Garrett and Rosalie were out hunting but they knew about the plan and we could tell them later about any changes we made.

"We were going to have the wolves and some of us spread out and then, in smaller circles work their way inward.

As we are working our way inward, there will be a few of us in the center waiting for him. With all of us working together, we should be able to trap him this way and then we can get some answers,"

"What about Nessie?" Of course Jacob would think of her first and it was refreshing to hear. It had also been the first question on mine and Edward's minds and was seconded by Rosalie, Carlisle, and Esme immediately.

"For this, we can leave Nessie with Charlie. He knows enough now that I'm sure he'll recognize the importance of what it is that we're doing,"

"What about the risks?" Jacob asked, "Some of you aren't as good at fighting as others,"

"Those who aren't so good with fighting will be between those of us with more experience. Whether it's vampire or wolf, no one will be exposed for long enough for the nomad to do much before reinforcements arrive,"

"I'm picturing an image like water running down the drain..."

"...With a nasty surprise at the drain," Kate finished.

"What if he catches on to what we're doing and runs for it?"

"By then his trail will be so new that we should be able to get after him before he gets too far away," Eleazar answered.

"I like it. So, who runs circles and who stays in the middle?"

"I think it needs to be Bella, Edward, and I in the middle," Jasper answered, "With everyone else running the closing circle,"

"Then my last question is..."

"How are we going to do this without alerting him that we're trying something?" Edward asked interrupting Jacob.

He nodded and Edward sighed; "That's the biggest hole in the plan that I can see. Unfortunately there really isn't a way around it. We can only hope that he's not watching us as we spread out. We don't want to alert him prematurely,"

"Agreed," Said Eleazar with others around the room nodding their heads as well.

We continued to keep watch around home and the surrounding area for the nomad as the funeral for Billy Black approached. While the nomad did not venture towards our cottage again, he made it clear that it wasn't out of respect. His trail would often cut right through between the house and the cottage itself.

More than once we tried, unsuccessfully, to catch him as he ran through the area. He seemed to be a step ahead however. For example Carlisle, Esme, and Nessie went this direction for a short hunting trip the morning after Jacob came over.

We; Edward, myself, Tanya, Alice, and Jasper, followed behind them thinking that we might cut across the nomad's trail. Except that there was nothing there to find. Continuing on with the planned hunt, we gathered at a predetermined place a few hours later and then all came back to the house together. That was when we found that the nomad had followed after the second group. He had even stood for a time against the tree that marked the turn in the trail to our cottage.

"He's playing with us," I grumbled to no one in particular.

"This is nothing new, Love. He's been playing with us for a while now," Edward reminded me gently.

"I can't wait for this to be over,"

"Me either," Alice commented as she rubbed her temples, "I've not felt so many blind spots in my vision since you were pregnant with Nessie,"

"Do you think there's a way you can use that?" Jacob asked.

"What do you mean, Jacob?" Kate looked intrigued.

"Well, when the wolf pack was after you, it was simple to know which way to go. You just followed the routes that didn't disappear. What about doing something like that here?"

Jasper looked very impressed. So did Garrett and Edward though only Edward said anything about it.

"Well Alice? How about it? Do you see any problems with our little plan?"

"No, not yet anyway," She replied cautiously.

"Can you see the nomad?" I was hopeful; maybe this would really work.

"No, I can't see him, but then I never have seen him before either,"

"So either the plan will work..." Kate said

"...or not. Either way we're no worse off than when we started," Jacob finished.

He slapped Kate a high five and everyone else in the room smiled.

Two days later it was a very different looking Jacob who sat in the front pew of the small church on the Quileute reservation. Next to him sat his two sisters and their families. Charlie, Sue, Leah, Seth, Nessie, Edward, and I sat behind them. I was reluctant to do this at first but Jacob had plainly and loudly made it clear that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Edward smiled when he heard this but when I asked him about it, it was Seth who leaned over and said quietly; "Jacob is effectively the Chief of our entire tribe now. Since he's Billy's only male heir and Billy was the Chief of the tribe, the job falls to him. The others may not like it, but they'll respect it,"

They did respect it. We received a lot of curious stares but no one was overtly hostile. I figured it had a lot to do with the fact that Charlie was with us and the people on the reservation generally liked my Dad. When I mentioned this to Edward he replied,

"You're half right. They do know and like Charlie and they respect that Charlie and Billy were close friends. The other part of it is that word on the reservation has started to spread around a little about Carlisle and his treatment of the people who have gone to see him. Or let him come to see them. So the old prejudice that has been carried for so long is now being tempered with a little curiosity,"

"That's good isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes and no. We're still inherently dangerous. You remember when you got a little paper cut and Jasper snapped at you? Or when we first met and my reaction to you? We will always have to keep ourselves apart from the humans. Our coming into close contact with humans on such a regular basis really isn't such a good idea,"

"But..."

"Charlie is your father. We make an exception for him of course. We make an exception for the wolves because they don't appeal to us as a meal. This is why when we were at school that we never did anything to encourage any friendships with any of the humans who attended there. The fact that their own instincts told them that we're different, possibly dangerous helped with that too,"

"Is that why..."

"Yes, that's one reason why Mike Newton and some of the others had such a hard time with our relationship. It didn't seem right to them. In truth, they were right. But as I told you then I'm much to selfish to worry about something like that,"

I smiled up at Edward and he returned it back to me. Our entire conversation would have fallen outside the range of hearing for most of the people present. Jacob may have heard it, or parts of it anyway, but if he did he never gave any indication of it.

We turned our full attention back to the funeral service at hand. It wasn't overly long and I was thankful for Jacob's sake. I knew him well enough to know that a long service would not have gone over well with him.

From the Church we moved to the old Quileute cemetery where Billy was laid to rest. Here as well the service was short and simple. Jacob stood there with his sisters and their families while people filed past giving them their apologies and condolences. His face was a mask with no emotion, except for his eyes.

From where we stood some distance away I could clearly see the fire of pain and anger that burned fiercely in his deep brown eyes. He looked over towards us and I saw Edward's eyes glaze over momentarily. A second later Edward spoke.

"Jacob says he's coming over tonight. He says it will be after midnight and he's bringing Sam, Seth, Quil, and Embry. They want to spring the trap,"

"We'll be ready," Carlisle nodded with conviction.

It was just before midnight when they showed up. They came in wolf form and didn't waste much time with pleasantries. The Denali's were a little tense from being in the same room as so many of the wolves but both groups were cordial with each other. We were all gathered for a common cause.

"We're alone. We circled around the house several times on our way in. There's no trace of the nomad on the ground," Sam said as he came in behind Jacob.

"Nor any from in the trees," Garrett said as he and Kate walked into the room hand in hand. Turning to Jacob and his group he added, "We saw you coming in. Nice teamwork that you have,"

Seth smiled at him and the rest just acknowledged Garrett's comment with a nod. Everyone gathered in the living room since it was the largest room in the house and could hold the most people.

"The pack already knows about your plan," Jacob said as he moved over towards Renesmee's sleeping form.

He knelt down next to her and with the softest touch, brushed her hair back away from her sleeping face. It was interesting to watch; all of the pain, anger, grief, and other unhappy feelings Jacob had endured over the last week melted away from him as he looked over my daughter.

I knew it was the imprinting he'd had with her for the most part but I also felt that even without the wolfy imprint, his bond with Nessie would have been strong. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jasper watching him with an interested expression. When he caught me observing him he shrugged.

We, vampires and werewolves alike, spent the next couple of minutes observing Jacob as he watched over Nessie in her sleep. The general mood I took from this observation was simple; this now, this time with family and close friends, this is what we were fighting for. It was a fight very much worth having.

Gently, Carlisle called everyone's attention back to the reason we were there. When he spoke, the angry, hostile mask that Jacob had been wearing since the death of his father returned.

So, our idea is a simple one, even if the parts to it are a little more complicated," He began.

"We're ready, when do we move?" Jacob asked.

"Sooner would be better than later, I would think," Garrett advised, "This nomad seems to have an uncanny ability for self preservation. If we wait too long, then chances are good that he'll tumble to the fact that we're attempting something and he'll do whatever it is that he does to avoid it,"

"Could that be his talent?" Tanya asked.

"What? Self preservation? It's possible, but I think it unlikely," Eleazar answered.

"Does that mean you have some thoughts on what his talent might be?" Carmen asked her mate.

"I've been ruling out possibilities as we go along. Of course for every one I rule out, three more come up. It's been a complicated process. Once we get closer to him, I'll learn much more about him,"

"As will we all," Edward growled.

"Yes, as will we all," Eleazar agreed.

"So, how is this going to work?" Sam asked politely.

"We'll take Nessie over to Charlie's and have him watch her. She can spend the day or the night with him. We should probably have one of the wolves nearby, just in case," Jasper began.

"What then?" Seth prompted.

"As we're seeing to Renesmee's safety, the rest of us will be moving into position. We'll have me, Edward, and Bella waiting in the clearing where we fought the Volturi last year. The rest of us will move out of the area and then we'll start moving inward in circles. This will hopefully drive the nomad towards the center where we can catch him. As the circle closes, if he makes a break for it, then we'll have enough people in position to give chase,"

"And you said that the risks are small," Sam confirmed.

"Yes, the biggest risk will be alerting him as we're moving into position. Unless he has some sort of talent like Alice's, then that's the only real drawback," Edward finished.

"It's a good plan," Garrett said thoughtfully, "We're essentially the hounds driving the fox to the hunters."

"That's the idea, yes," Jasper confirmed.

"Very military. You'd have done well, if you hadn't been turned," Garrett smiled at Jasper who nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Then tomorrow?" Jacob asked.

"Tomorrow. I'll call Charlie first thing in the morning," I answered.

"Bella, what happens if the nomad is outside the circle when we do this? That leaves the whole area, the town, the reservation, and whoever might be in the forest unprotected," Jacob bottom lip jutted out as this thought and it's possibilities played out in his mind.

"That Jacob, is a risk we'll just have to take," Garrett answered.

Would the risk be worth the reward? That was my question. And to find the answer to that would be something that only time would tell.

When the rest of the wolves left, Jacob stayed behind. Without a word to any of the rest of us, he settled down next to where Renesmee slept on the couch, leaned his head back and soon was asleep. He barely even twitched when Esme retrieved a blanket from a closet in the hall and draped it over him.

When morning came I called Charlie bright and early.

"Hey Bells, I'm sorry we didn't have much time to talk yesterday," Charlie said after we'd said hello.

"It's alright, Dad. Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what's going on?" Charlie asked happily.

"Would you mind watching Nessie for me today? I'm not sure how long it will be for, and it might even be over night. Can you help me out?"

Charlie was quiet for a minute on the other end of the line. I imagined that the wheels were turning furiously in his mind. While it was not unusual for us to ask him to watch Renesmee from time to time, this was the first time he'd been asked to possibly keep her overnight.

"What are you not telling me, Bella?" He asked flatly.

"Charlie..."

"No!" He swore, "If I'm going to help you out with this, I want to know what's going on. Does this have anything to do with what happened to Billy or Desmond?"

What could I tell him? He'd know right away that I was lying to him. On the other hand, he'd had far too much exposure to my world already. I looked to the others for some help. After another moment's silence, Carlisle held out his hand for the phone. It was with a profound sense of gratitude that I handed it to him.

"Charlie," Carlisle began.

"Carlisle? What's going on here?" We could all hear the other end of the conversation just as if it was us on the line with my Dad.

"We have some things we need to take care of. After much discussion we determined that Renesmee will be safe with you while we attend to other matters,"

"Does this have anything to do with what happened to Billy Black?"

"It does, yes."

"And you want me to watch Renesmee while you all are dealing with this?"

"That's correct." Carlisle said passionately.

"Carlisle look, I'm the Chief of Police for this town. If something big is happening here then I need to know about it,"

"This isn't anything that you would be able to deal with. Do you remember the things Bella showed you?" He asked blatantly.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Imagine someone like that trying to come after you and there's nothing that you can do about it. You wouldn't be able to run, hide, or fight him. That's what we have to do,"

"If this guy is so unstoppable, then how is it any safer to leave Nessie with me?"

"Because we're going to keep him occupied. He won't be able to come anywhere near you. We can't in good conscience leave her here unattended. Neither can we leave her anywhere else since there isn't anyone else whom we would trust to take her,"

Charlie was quiet for a minute while he thought things through. I knew it would only take him a minute to agree to do it, he just wasn't happy about being excluded from things. Especially after not being able to help out down in Jacksonville.

"When did you want to bring her over?" Charlie asked in defeat.

Carlisle looked at me and I nodded my head. He smiled at me and turned back to Charlie on the phone, "Bella's on her way right now,"

"I'll see her when she gets here then," Charlie agreed and the two hung up.

I packed up the still sleeping Renesmee and got her into the car. With me came Edward, Jacob, and Jasper. From Charlie's house we'd drive up the highway and park the car to make the run to the clearing.

As we were heading out to the car, the others all left in ones and twos to take up positions all around the area. Between us and the wolves, they would surround the entire town of Forks and the Quileute reservation and then they would begin to circle their way inward. The goal was for us to hit the center of the clearing about the same time as the others began circling. We all had cell phones so if someone came across the nomad's trail heading out of the circle, we could regroup and plan something else.

The good news was that on their last patrol, one of the wolves reported crossing the nomad's path heading into the forest between our house and the reservation. That was well within our circle which meant that our chances of catching him were greatly improved.

Charlie took over watching Nessie from us and grumbled under his breath as we dropped her off and prepared to leave. Knowing that he was not exactly happy with the situation and his deliberately being left out of it, it surprised me when he caught me by the elbow on my way out the door and pulled me into an awkward hug.

"You be careful out there," Charlie said gruffly with his back turned to Edward and the others.

"We'll be fine, Dad," I reassured him, "After all, there's only one of him and there are a lot more of us,"

"This is the same guy who hurt your Mom, isn't it?" He asked suddenly.

Edward froze as he heard the question and looked at me cautiously. Until this point, Charlie hadn't put it all together yet. His question caught me entirely off guard. I could only nod my head in answer to his question.

"Then get him, Bella. Don't let this guy get away with all of this pain he's caused," He whispered to me as he let me go.

"We will, Dad," I said softly.

Edward's arm found me as we walked back out to the car; "He's suspected the two situation were related for some time. You just confirmed what he already knew,"

"I never thought I'd hear the day when my Dad would encourage me to hurt another person. To break the law,"

"He loved your mother very deeply. To have Billy Black, another person whom he cared about a lot, die so soon after your mother and at the hands of the same person had a profound affect on him. In some ways you might even say it changed him," Edward said.

"That makes sense..."

"But?"

"But it's something that I never thought I'd hear him say. It's...weird,"

"Haven't you done anything recently that you didn't think you ever would?" Edward asked me pointedly.

I knew immediately what he was referring to. Last year I'd been prepared to die and to take others with me to protect Jacob and my daughter.

"Strange how people's convictions change when the ones they love are in danger, isn't it?" Edward asked.

His eyes were kind and his voice was gentle. I realized then that he probably understood even better than I did the problems I was facing. He kissed me softly.

"Hey now, none of that," Jacob chided lightly, "You'll have plenty of time for that after this is done,"

We made good time to the spot on the highway where we would leave the car and make our way up to the clearing. If anyone should happen to come along and see our car, it would look like we were out hiking for the day.

From where we parked at the end of the forest road off the main highway, we got out and ran up to the clearing.

"What is it?" Edward asked as he saw me smile reminiscently.

"I'm just remembering,"

"What's that, my love?"

"How long it took us to reach the clearing the first time you brought me up here,"

Jacob rolled his eyes and grinned. Jasper too seemed to find some humor in the statement because he also wore a smug, suppressed smile.

"I was happy to go at her pace," Edward told him in a superior voice.

Looking over at me, Jasper explained; "Edward's very impatient when he has to move slower than normal. I was thinking he must have been going crazy walking so slow. Especially with how...ungraceful...you used to be,"

Grinning at Jasper I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. Edward smiled at us tolerantly and we continued on towards the clearing.

About halfway there, Jacob stepped away for a minute. When I looked back in his direction, Edward said quietly, "He's phasing. He wants to keep in touch with the pack and he doesn't want to be caught off guard if something should happen,"

That made sense to me. As the day wore on, we were all on pins and needles. Hopefully by the time the sun set this evening we would have some answers. My question was would the answers we wanted give us more problems than they solved. I decided it would be worth it to find out.

In the clearing we took up position in the middle. The sun rose up over the trees and gave the clouds a golden glow. Jasper was looking at them intently.

"There's a weather system moving in,"

"That shouldn't affect anything if his trail is fresh," Edward replied.

Just then a huge russet colored wolf came loping into the clearing. As he approached we could hear a low pitched growl emanating from deep within his chest.

Edward looked at him for a moment as he read Jacob's thoughts.

"Quil has caught the nomad's scent," Edward said quietly as he listened to Jacob's thoughts.

A cold chill ran down my spine; this was it. Our plan was working. I realized then that I'd been scared that he'd find some way to sniff it out and get out of it. That it was working and doing what we needed it to do was a huge relief.

"Paul has crossed the scent now. The nomad is moving inward. They don't think he knows that he's being herded yet," Edward said now.

Looking up towards the sky, I could see the clouds building. The pressure was dropping and the temperature along with it. It was going to be a vicious storm, even down here in the clearing. I wondered how bad Forks would be hit.

Charlie had taken the day off to spend it with Renesmee. However if the weather got bad enough and there were any car accidents, he'd be called in to assist. I hoped that wouldn't happen because that would mean that my daughter would have to go with him. My hope was that the weather system would bypass the town entirely. Except that it didn't look like it would.

As Edward and Jasper listened to Jacob and what was going on within the pack, I watched the clouds build up, the wind quicken, and then the snow flakes start to fall. They were small at first but quickly built up into large ones that covered the ground. It reminded me strongly of the events that happened last year.

"They've passed through the town now," Edward said, his voice distant and tense and the action continued to unfold.

This brought my attention back to the scene at once and lifted some of the tension off my shoulders. I didn't realize I'd been carrying it but I knew why; Charlie and Nessie were safe now. If the nomad wanted to get to them, he'd have to go through the wolves and my family to do it.

"They're getting close now, Get him Paul!" The excitement that was coming off Jacob as he listened to the pack was mimicked perfectly by Edward.

They were literally sharing one mind. It was like Edward was running through Jacob's thoughts and surfing the waves of emotion too. Both of their postures were erect, eager, and ready. They were wanting to join in the fight.

"Good one, Paul! You nearly got him that time!" Edward shouted gleefully.

The tension we felt was rising palpably. Everyone, myself included, felt the need to be doing something. At least Jacob and Edward had a window into the action. Jasper and I were left to hear little snippets of what was going on from time to time as Edward gave them.

"It looks like this is going to work!" I exclaimed to Jasper and Edward.

"Possibly," Jasper hesitated, "This nomad seems to have an uncanny knack for self preservation,"

"So you think...?"

"I think until we have him caught and subdued, it's too early to say anything," He concluded.

No sooner had the words left Jasper's mouth than a look of surprise and shock appear on Edward's face, "Look out Embry! PAUL, NO!"

We turned to look and Edward's face, just a moment ago a reflection of excited glee, was now more concentrated and a lot more intense.

"That was too close!" Edward said as Jacob whined in agreement.

"He's headed this way," Was his next statement, "Get ready, he should be here in just a minute or two,"

We waited though not patiently as the race continued.

"He's going into the trees, someone get him before he gets up too high," My husband growled.

Then just a few seconds later, "Nice tackle Emmett! You got him!"

I could hardly believe what I'd just heard. Emmett had him? Was it over? Maybe now so many of our questions could be answered. The sense of relief I felt was almost tangible.

"Wait! Emmett look out!" Edward shouted,

My head came up. The look of pain on Edward's face was intense, but short lived. He didn't say anything but I was certain that if anything had happened to him, I would know.

We could hear a distant crashing through the trees moving towards us. They were coming in our direction. Every now and again, we could hear a faint snarl, growl, or shout from one of the vampires.

Suddenly a loud howl erupted out of the forest which was immediately echoed by Jacob. His eyes filled with pain and his head jerked back and he howled loudly. Edward's face looked horrified and we could only listen to the distant sounds in the forest and that was nearly drowned out by the agony filled howl coming from Jacob.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

I realized I'd been waiting with baited breath for Edward to say something.

"It's Collin; he made a jump for the nomad and was caught in mid jump and thrown into a tree. He's alive but not getting up," Edward said.

"That won't last long with the way the wolves heal," Jasper commented.

Edward turned to look at Jasper and a look of cold realization washed over his features, "He's playing with us!"

"How do you know that?" Jasper asked as Jacob stopped howling and turned his attention to Edward.

"He's grinning and laughing. This is all just a game to him!"

"Which means, what?" I was beginning to feel a little confused.

No one spoke for several long, agonizing seconds. Jasper, Jacob, and I all sat looking at Edward who was staring back at Jacob, reading his thoughts. We had taken the time to come up with this plan. All of our other efforts to catch this one particular nomad didn't work. Sooner or later, something would have to bear fruit. Our fight had been one sided for too long.

"Paul, Quil, and Leah are going to try and triple team him and come at him at once from three sides," Edward breathed then immediately followed with, "Carlisle's made it to Collin. He'll be alright in a day or two. The nomad nearly crushed him, it was only a bad grip and being surprised by Carlisle and Esme that cause him to drop Collin where he was,"

"Where are the others?" Jasper asked.

"They're trying to close in on him in the small clearing not far from here. It's the one where I took Bella not long after we first met," Edward replied.

And like that Jacob surged forward and was bounding into the trees. Not even a quarter second passed before we made the decision to abandon our location and follow after him.

"What was that about?" Jasper asked Edward as we ran.

"Sam feels that they have a real chance at subduing the nomad there. That's where the wolves killed Laurent when he tried to kill Bella. I still owe them for that,"

We doubled our speed. Even as keyed up for the fight as we were, a part of my mind was still able to marvel at the fact that we were running faster in that moment as fast as the fastest cars went at top speed. Still we were able to breeze through the trees, rocks, and undergrowth as if we were casually strolling along on a quiet early spring evening.

The sounds of the vampires and wolves as they chased the nomad could be heard much more clearly now. We came into the clearing just as Leah, Paul, and Quil made their attempt to triple team the nomad.

As they moved into position the nomad leapt straight up and was caught mid-leap by Kate as she jumped high into the air, wrapped her arms around the nomad and held on tight. From where we stood the nomad was clearly visible. His face contorted in pain as he clinched his jaw and the cords on his neck stood out. Kate was hitting him with her electric touch with full force.

The two hit the ground with a sound like boulders tumbling down a rocky mountainside. Kate held on as Emmett rushed in along side Garrett to hold the nomad down. Tanya, Eleazar, Carmen, Alice, and Rosalie flooded in and each one took hold.

"NO!" Carlisle shouted, "Don't kill him!"

Several sets of fever pitched eyes glowered at Carlisle but did nothing more than hold the nomad in place. The wolves panted and paced around the group as the nomad was held face down on the ground with Emmett's foot planted squarely in his back. Rosalie, Tanya, Alice, and Carmen each held a limb and Kate walked up to him and gently put her hand to his neck, "Twitch and I'll put enough juice into you to light up New York," She said with a wink at us.

By this time Edward, Jasper, and I came jogging into the little clearing. Jacob was just a dozen steps behind us. It was a surreal moment if there ever was one. There on the ground was the person who killed not only my mother, but Jacob's dad and one of the members of his pack; Desmond Pullen.

It felt weird or different. I was ecstatic that we had finally captured him but I also had so many questions for him that I didn't know where to start. Carlisle evidently felt the same way. He looked long and hard at the nomad and his face was unreadable. I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. I would ask Edward about it later.

Eleazar came forward now and looked at the nomad strangely. He studied him and then finally knelt down, took a handful of his hair and lifted his head up to look him in the face. The look of shock was impossible to miss. As were the words he uttered next.

"_Madre de Dios_!" He exclaimed quietly.

The low guttural laugh the nomad uttered was clear, "Not quite,"

"I know you," Eleazar went on, the surprised look never leaving his face.

"We have never met,"

"I know who you are,"

"There are many that know who I am. I was old when Rome was young,"

"Who is he?" Emmett asked looking thoroughly confused.

"He is..."

"I am Paulinius Maximus and I am the bringer of your death," Paulinius said looking directly at me.

"You'll have a hard time with that, getting to her would mean having to get through all of us. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but there are a lot more of us than there are of you, Leech!" Jacob spat as he walked out of the trees.

"Not to mention the fact that you're our prisoner," Emmett added.

"Jacob, Emmett, you need to know that of which you speak. This is no mere nomad. Nor is he one to speak lightly,"

"Is he part of the Volturi?" Rosalie asked.

The laugh from the nomad was hearty and ran chills down my spine when I heard it. I had the sudden impression that the answer to that question was not going to be pleasant. It turns out, I was right.


	10. Ch 10 Paulinius' Surprise

**Disclaimer- **The Twilight Saga, it's characters, and other associated content are the property of it's author; Stephanie Meyer, and Summit Media. This story is told for entertainment purposes only and the author makes no profit from writing it. No copyright infringement should be taken or inferred.

**Chapter 10**

"No," Eleazar and Paulinius said together but it was Paulinius who went on, "Their ways are not to my liking,"

"But you're working for them," Jasper said it with certainty and I didn't miss Edward's confirming nod.

The storm that had been brewing and just getting started as we were taking our places was building up in ferocity. This was going to be a bad one. However as a vampire, while I noticed the change in temperatures, I was completely unaffected by it. However the snow that came whistling down from the mountains only served to accentuate the reminder of how similar this situation was to what we faced last year. It just so happened that there were more similarities than one.

"Eleazar," Edward's face was a frown, "Do you have any indication of what his gifts are?"

For a moment Eleazar studied the nomadic vampire who had given us so much trouble. His features, normally a picture of calm collectedness, became cautious and then concerned. There was a low rumble of laughter from Paulinius as he lay face down on the ground and Carmen asked, "What is it, Mi Corazon?"

"I'm sure by now you see that your troubles are just beginning," Paulinius said.

"What does he mean, Eleazar?"

"The Volturi do not take kindly to losing," Eleazar said.

"Indeed they do not. Nor do they take kindly the loss of face in front of so many witnesses," Paulinius looked at me directly, "You have made some powerful enemies,"

Immediately Edward took a stance between me and the nomad but he only scoffed at it.

"Charming. I'm sure the gesture will be discussed by them at length as they watch your bodies burn," Paulinius smiled.

"What are we facing here, Eleazar?" Carlisle asked.

We stepped away from the vampire on the ground with Eleazar to talk and assess the situation at hand. I had to admit I had a very bad feeling about things. A feeling which became even more pronounced when Eleazar spoke next.

"There is no name for what he does. His abilities are almost unique among our kind," Eleazar began.

"How so?" Carlisle asked with interest.

Leave it to my father-in-law to pounce upon an opportunity to learn something new.

"As you know already, for most of us our abilities are easily classified. They are either offensive, like Kate's or Jane's, or Defensive, like mine or Bella's. Some, like Edward's or Alice's can be used either way, but they are still easily quantifiable in what they can do. This nomad doesn't fit into any of those categories.

I guess the easiest, though hardly the most accurate, way to describe him is that he's a chameleon of sorts. When a vampire with a gift uses that gift against him, he seems to absorb the gift and use it to his own ends. This is why Alice can't see him, why Edward experiences the limitations he does reading his thoughts, why your shield's effectiveness is diminished, and why if Kate were to touch him, she would feel as much of the shock herself as he does,"

"If he can do that with us so easily, then why would he let us catch him?" I asked.

"That is simply explained. How does an effective hunter catch it's prey? It learns about them and their habits. Then it can strike at will with a much greater chance of success. I imagine he's looking us over and looking for weaknesses,"

"Then you think he'll escape?" Edward looked upset by that thought.

"I think that is only a matter of time," Eleazar nodded.

"What makes you say that?"

Eleazar looked at my husband for several seconds before he answered; "One does not live to become that old without learning how to survive along the way,"

The statement brought my thoughts to a sudden halt. Why would a vampire as old and as accomplished at survival as Paulinius allow himself to be captured by hostile vampires? Why would he want to be near a group of people who wanted nothing more than to kill him? Unless...

Turning now to study him, I saw that I was the subject of his attention as well. When our eyes met, he gave another low, chuckle that sounded like a heavy object being moved through gravel.

"Dawn begins to break in your mind. I see it in your eyes,"

"Quiet you!" Kate said from behind him.

My mind churning now, I realized our mistake. We had made an assumption and this one could cost us dearly.

"Charlie!" I gasped, "Renesmee!"

"It's alright my love, they're safe," Edward replied; his face calm and reassuring.

"Edward, don't you see it?" I shrieked.

This time the laughter was hearty and genuine. I hated the sound of it as much as I hated the words I would say next.

"He's not working alone!"

Even more the laughter became more pronounced. He seemed to be finding real glee in this.

"All these ancient minds. All these years of experience in hunting, strategy, with our kind, and it is the newborn who understands,"

Almost as one several heads turned in my direction. I could see it in the eyes of the others as they realized I was right. Esme closed her eyes in regret while Rosalie's opened wide in fear. She looked at me with real panic.

"Bella, Renesmee's with Charlie..."

"And they're unprotected!" Jacob's face became a mask of horror as he turned away and phased mid-leap into his wolf form.

He was running at full speed back towards town before any of the other wolves; Seth, Leah, Quil, and Sam had a chance to join him. I too turned to follow them and I could hear Edward, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett moving over the forest ground with me. As we left the scene I could hear the laughter of the nomad following us through the blowing wind and snow and fading as we got further away.

Panic powered my steps as I moved through the trees and undergrowth like nothing ever had before. The full scale blizzard that was beginning to howl around us only served to feed the undercurrent of tension and anticipation of what it is that we might find.

As we got close to town we had to be careful of the people around. Thankfully the weather being as bad as it was made it so that relatively few people were outside. With as fast as we were moving, no human eye could see us but that didn't mean we didn't have to be cautious.

We made it to Charlie's house and I froze. My heart was in my chest and if my blood still ran in my veins I would have been hearing it in my ears. His front door was hanging from one hinge.

"Oh no!" I cried as the others arrived next to me.

All of us stared for a half second in absolute horror at the scene in front of us. Then Edward whispered, "I don't hear her,"

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

Jacob swore viciously under his breath.

"Nessie, I can't hear her thoughts," Edward's face was a mask of fear.

Never had I seen my husband look as scared or as sick as I did in that moment. Rosalie and Alice's cries echoed mine.

"What about my Dad? Can you hear Charlie?"

"Bella..." Edward whispered.

"NO!" I screamed as I leapt from where I stood the thirty yards into the front door.

As soon as I entered the house the smell flooded into my nostrils. Blood. A lot of it. I shut off my nose as I became aware of the smell. It was an automatic process. When I finished, it took a moment to take a firmer grasp on my control. Then, using my eyes and ears I started scanning around the room.

"Bella?" Alice asked from the doorway.

I could see Edward and Jacob standing in the doorway behind her. Rosalie and Emmett stood behind them. I knew my face must look like theirs. The other wolves were moving around to the back of the house. I could hear them as surely as I could hear the wind outside or the scrape of...

In a flash I moved upstairs. Someone was there and they would be made to answer for the blood I smelled and the reasons why I couldn't hear my daughter's heart beating in the house.

There is no way I could have been prepared for what met my eyes. In my old bedroom was the source of the blood smell. I went in there to see what the source was since there was no one else in the house that I could hear, smell, or see.

On my bed lay Sue. She was bleeding heavily but she was alive. The sound I'd heard was her trying to move on my bed. Her feet had scraped the floor.

"Sue Clearwater?" Edward's tone said that he was as confused by the scene in front of us as I was.

"Is she..." Came Alice's voice from the hall.

"She's alive. It looks like she put up a fight and lost. Why didn't they kill her?"

"She's from the Quileute Tribe; their blood doesn't appeal to our kind," Alice speculated.

"Is she conscious?"

The sound of two wolves howling in the trees outside my Dad's house told me that Seth and Leah had heard our conversation. It would only be a matter of moments until they were in the room with us.

Sure enough, seconds later, the sounds of footsteps thundering up the stairs could be heard as Sam, Seth, and Leah entered my very small bedroom.

"MOM!" Seth shouted.

Carefully, gingerly, with infinite care, Seth and Leah gently rolled their mother over from where she was lying on my bed. She gave a tiny moan as she was moved. The damage done to her body made it clear that whoever attacked her, had no desire to feed on her. They were using her to deliver a message. A message which in fact was pinned to her chest. Seth removed it, read it, and with the saddest eyes I've ever seen in his normally happy face, held it out to me.

"It's to you," Was all he said.

"I'm calling Carlisle," Rosalie said from the hall.

The sounds of her dialing and speaking to Carlisle were quickly drowned out by the emotional tears shed by Jacob, Seth, and Leah as they did everything they could to tend to Sue. Sam stood there looking stunned beyond words. Edward, the only one among us with any kind of medical knowledge, moved forward to tend to help as best he could while I stared at the note left for me.

If I had a heart that worked, it would be pumping hard and I would be hyperventilating. Edward was distracted for the moment and for that I was thankful because there was no way I would have wanted him to see what was on that note. I also knew that there was no real way that I could keep it from him. Really I didn't want to hide anything so much as to keep him from the pain that this note was surely going to bring.

"What does it say, Bella?" Alice asked from behind me.

Turning now to look at her, I saw Alice's face as she went into one of her visions. She gasped as she said, "Oh no, Renesmee! Charlie! NO!"

Hearing this, Edward spun around and looked at Alice. He looked at me, at the note, and put things together.

"They've taken Renesmee,"

Not able to speak at the moment, I nodded my head and then held out the note so he could read it for himself. He left Sue momentarily in the care of her children while he stepped away to look at it. It read:

"_Revenge is a dish best served cold. Your lives were spared but we made no promise to your father or his mate. That your daughter was with them only makes this that much sweeter. They belong to us until such time as their purpose has been served."_

The note was short. It gave no indication of the condition of either my father or my daughter. That was information I got from the horror struck look on Alice's face as she entered her vision. In that moment I no longer wanted to deal with any of the things I was facing.

Except now I wasn't human any longer. I was a vampire. I had all of the gifts that came with being a vampire as well as my protective shield. I had my family of vampires and my extended family of werewolves. While the Volturi or whoever was doing this (I wasn't completely sure yet that they were behind it since the note wasn't signed), may have won the round, they hadn't won the entire fight yet.

"What is it, Alice?" Edward asked in a forceful tone.

Looking sidelong at me, she said; "I don't see much except Renesmee,"

"Is she okay? Is she hurt?" I asked.

Jacob looked up at us from where he stood tending to Sue Clearwater. I knew he was as intensely concerned about Nessie as Edward and I. We all waited on pins and needles for Alice to answer.

"She's scared, but unharmed," Alice said.

"For now," Jacob said carefully.

"That can easily change," Edward advised.

"We have to get her back!" Rosalie was devastated; the anguish on her face matched the cold pit where my stilled heart rested.

"We don't know where she is," Emmett said.

"But that doesn't mean we can't find out," Sam's look of determination was grim.

We watched Alice for a moment before I asked, "Did you see Charlie?"

She looked at me and then at Edward. Her look carried enough weight that I felt like the ground beneath me wanted to give way. He put his arms around me and said very carefully; "It was only a flash. Very fast and it was gone."

"But what did she _see_, Edward?" I couldn't stand not knowing.

The thought of something bad happening to my father, after all that had just happened to my mother and to Billy Black, was unbearable. Edward must have agreed that there was no point in making me wait any longer.

"He's in a lot of pain, Bella..." He said it as gently, as quietly, as he could.

"WHAT?" I cried, "Not Charlie! Not my Dad too! NOOO!" I yelled as the thought of Charlie's death coming in waves of agony played through my mind.

I knew what vampires were capable of. Charlie did to, to a lesser extent. They, whoever they were, were using him to get to me and we'd walked right into it. Now my daughter was scared and alone and my father was in pain. I was supposed to be able to protect them both and I'd failed miserably.

"Bella, you have to calm down. We can't help them if we can't concentrate enough to find them,"

"Did anyone catch their scent?" Sam asked from where he stood by Sue.

In that moment, it was like turning on a light in a darkened room. Of course! How could I have forgotten? In my rush to get upstairs to find the source of the noise I'd heard, I quit using my sense of smell so as not to be tempted by the smell of blood.

Looking around the room, something quickly became apparent. There was no way Sue could have gotten up here on her own. The blood from her wounds was all over and around my bed. It was enough to leave puddles standing and drying on the bare mattress and the floor. Enough that if she'd come up here on her own, there would have been some sign of it. Except there was none. She'd been placed there on purpose.

Turning now back towards the door, I moved quickly through it and ran first into the bathroom, then Charlie's room, then downstairs to the kitchen and the living room. It was the living room where their scents were concentrated the most. It was also there that another, unfamiliar scent, one belonging to our kind was heavily present. Only one other.

The nomad, Paulinius Maximus, wasn't alone. But he didn't seem to have brought an army with him either. Edward came up next to me and I saw it in his eyes. He'd caught the scent of the intruder too.

"Another one..."

"But only one," I said.

"Bella, that may not mean anything," He cautioned.

"You're right, but I have to try,"

"No, _we_ have to try," Edward corrected.

"Yes," Came Carlisle's voice from the door, snow in his windblown hair, "We do."

"Sue's upstairs," Edward replied to Carlisle's questioning look, "She's hurt pretty bad,"

"Renesmee? Charlie?"

"We don't know anything yet,"

Looking directly at me, I could see the pain in Carlisle's eyes; "I'm sorry, Bella,"

"We're going to find them," I said with conviction.

He nodded and went upstairs. As he left I turned my attention back to the scent in the living room. This is where the vampire found them. It looked like Charlie and Nessie were enjoying some quiet time together. The TV was off and there was a coloring book on the floor with a box of crayons.

It brought a lump to my throat to see this. Charlie took pride in everything Nessie did. He hung her art on the fridge. He kept everything she gave him the same way he'd done with me. Her picture was prominently placed all over the house the way mine had been when I was my daughter's age.

Quickly I put these feelings away. There would be a time and a place for that. After I got my family back. Edward looked at me and nodded. He understood exactly as I knew he would. His hand found mine and gripped it tightly.

Together we followed the scent of Charlie and Renesmee and the vampire who had taken them. It disappeared almost right at the door to my father's house. It took a moment to figure out what he'd done.

So as not to leave a clear trail, the vampire had leapt from the door of the house into the trees a dozen yards from the door. He wasn't trusting the snow and wind to clear his scent away. He'd made the leap high enough that his scent trail wouldn't immediately tip us off as to what he'd done. He was buying himself some time but why?

Why would he need time? We followed his trail through the trees. Every so often we'd come across evidence that they, my father and daughter, had been taken involuntarily. A few strands of her hair. A drop or two of his blood.

Deeper and deeper into the forest we went. The trail we followed led far into the woods. Much deeper than most hikers or explorers would ever see. This is the part of the deep, ancient forest that was seen by only the most intrepid of explorers. And by us.

It was a perfect place to hide. Far away from prying eyes and ears. Where someone could scream loudly and never be heard by a single person. As evidenced by the large splatter of Charlie's blood on the trunk of a massive cedar.

A far away scream of tortured agony could be heard just barely drifting through the trees. The sound of it sent chills down my spine. Even distorted by distance and intense pain, I recognized the owner of the voice. It was Charlie.

"Bella, wait!" Edward said as he gently pulled back on my hand.

"No, Edward! They're out there! We have to get them!"

"I know that, Love. But what if it's a trap?"

That was a thought that hadn't occurred to me. Immediately, I started thinking about what Edward had said. It was just he and I in the trees, deep inside the thick Washington forest with the raging blizzard howling all around us. We'd left so quickly that the others were still back at my house in Forks. Still, I had to try.

Moving along more slowly and quietly now, we followed what remained of the trail that had been left. I knew Edward was behind me and he that he felt that there was more going on than we were aware of. Still that it was our daughter and my father out there was all the motivation he needed to be there with me. He would have gone alone if he had to.

When Charlie's screams of pain became more and more pronounced and not just simply carried on the wind, we dropped down to the forest floor. We could follow the sound to where they were keeping him.

The sounds of him in so much pain finally filtered through and stopped me cold. I turned to look in horror at Edward and knew from the expression on his face, that he'd realized long ago what Charlie's screams meant. He'd been bitten. He was becoming one of us.

"Edward," I said quietly.

"I know, Love. I know,"

"Why would...?"

He could only look at me. He had no more answers to that question than I did. He pulled out his phone and went to call Carlisle. He stopped mid-dial and swore softly under his breath.

"What is it?" I asked feeling very numb.

"No signal. We're on our own,"

"Not quite," Said a voice from behind us in the forest.

It was Emmett. He, Rosalie and Alice were coming out of the trees. Never had I been so glad to see my adopted brother and sisters. Relief flooded through me as I saw them approaching.

"Carlisle, Sam, and Jacob took Sue back to the Reservation with her kids," Rosalie said quietly.

"How is she?" Edward asked.

"She's in a lot of pain, but he says she'll live," Alice replied.

"She may not want to if that's what I think it is," Emmett said.

I looked directly at Alice and saw her looking back at me, her eyes pleading.

"I'm so sorry, Bella! I didn't want it to happen any more than you did,"

"You saw this?"

She nodded her tiny head. Her eyes were begging forgiveness, "I didn't want it to be true," She whispered.

"She knows that, Alice," Edward said putting his arm around her.

"I really am sorry, Bella," Alice was looking at me but at the moment I had other things to do than be mad at her for not telling me what she saw.

"What about Renesmee?" I asked.

"Nothing since that first vision," Alice said.

"Don't be upset, Alice. It's not your fault," I told her as I turned back to the forest and my father.

We spread out a little as we tracked in on the sounds Charlie was making. He was clearly in a lot of pain. How well I remembered the pain he felt now. The fire, the burn, as the body is transformed, hardened, from what it was born as into something completely different.

Every nerve ending would feel like it was coated in acid. Every fiber like it was being held under a acetylene torch. Even the screams did nothing to dull the pain. The only thing that would do that is time. And when time did dull the pain, it would be replaced by an insatiable thirst. A thirst for which there was no way to quench it. It could only be dulled for awhile but never sated entirely.

This is what Charlie would wake up to. This is the life he would know. I knew without asking that Carlisle and the rest of the family would accept him into the fold. They would do so without me asking because that is the type of people they were. But is that what Charlie would want?

The scene that greeted us when we finally got to Charlie was like one out of a horror novel. He'd been bitten, that much was clear. There were bite marks all over his arms, face, and bare chest.

He was tied high up in a tree that had grown out of a rock ledge several dozen feet up. He was hanging by his feet and from the condition of his body, he'd been abused by the one who'd captured him.

"DAD!" I cried.

I went to leap up and cut him down by a hand on my shoulder stopped me. It was Edward.

"I'll do it," He said quietly.

"I'll help you," Emmett added.

Together they quickly climbed up the tree that held my father and as gently as they could began the process to cut him down. While they did this, Alice and Rosalie came up on either side of me. I felt their arms as they wrapped them around me and I returned the gesture. Together we sisters held each other as we watched Edward and Emmett remove Charlie from where he'd been hung in the tree. The sounds of his agony was like a gruesome accompaniment.

While they were up there, I saw Emmett frown, look directly at Edward and then hand him something. Edward looked at what Emmett had given him and I saw his eyes widen and then glance at me before swearing again. This time much more loudly.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

I would have but I recognized the look in my husband's eyes. It was another note and whatever it was that the note said, it wasn't good.

When Charlie was released from the tree, Emmett took him in his arms and dropped the fifty plus feet to the ground. Edward followed him and we watched as Emmett gently set my father down in a lush bed of ferns where he continued to scream his agony and writhe around unable to make it stop.

"Dad, it won't last forever," I told him.

My heart was breaking seeing my father in so much pain just as it was breaking at the thought of my daughter who was still missing. I looked over at Edward and saw the pain in his eyes as he saw me watching my father going through the process of being turned.

His eyes became even more sad when he passed me the note that Emmett had handed him. It was written in the same hand as the one we'd found on Sue and the news it contained wasn't any better. If anything it was worse.

"_By the time you get this, your daughter will be long gone. However, since you made things so easy for us to claim her, we wanted to give you a token of our appreciation and return your father to you. We also decided to leave with him a gift for you of sorts. We hope you like it."_

Again I wished I could cry. I was angry at my new body for denying me that release for my emotions. Anger, hate, a deep thirst to bring pain to those who had brought these events into my life, these are the emotions that washed through me.

Edward pulled me into his arms. I knew that he was as upset and angry as I was. Charlie was a part of his family now. Renesmee was his daughter. He too felt the same things I did, I could see it in his eyes. He was a lot better about controlling these emotions than I was. Something I was sure that he would credit to having over a hundred years of practice.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

"The only thing we can do," He replied quickly, "We'll find her,"

There was nothing more that we could do there in the forest. While Alice and I stayed next to Charlie, the other three spread out to try and find some sign of Nessie and her abductor. We sat there quietly in the cold with the wind howling and the snow flying through it. The blizzard was a bad one.

It had done what it was that the nomad and Nessie's abductor had intended it to do. It had erased the scent of their passing. Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie searched the snow covered ground and the trees throughout the area but there was no sign of anyone other than Charlie and us. They were gone.

Emmett was the one who picked up Charlie and carried him back to the house. Back when I was human, this would have been a very long walk. Now, as a vampire, it seemed hardly more than just a casual stroll.

The wind and the blizzard around us moaned and cried through the trees as I wanted to at the situation we were in. It wasn't enough to let things be. To leave us alone. To let us live.

Someone, likely the Volturi though we had no proof of that at the moment, had made the decision that we no longer needed to exist. That same someone had decided to hurt me through the only ways that I could be hurt now; through my father and daughter.

We had Charlie back, though at the moment he was somewhat less than whole. That was something to be thankful for at least.

Or was it? Charlie would be a vampire. His whole life would change. Nothing would ever be the same for him again. How would he take that? Would he accept it? Could he accept it? He'd accepted me easily enough but then what choice did I give him? Would he have accepted me as he did if he'd had another choice? I wanted to think that he would have.

His life would be very different. There was no doubt that Charlie would have to leave Forks. There was no way that he could conceivably stay there now. Not with his current job as the Chief of Police. He saw too much blood for that to be a realistic idea. Not as a newborn anyway.

What would my dad be like as a vampire? Would he want to stay with us? I knew without having to think about it that the family would accept him as one of them.

Those were my thoughts as we entered the house. We found the others, Esme, Carmen, Garrett, Kate, Tanya, Jasper, and Eleazar in the house around the table. The nomad was sitting between them.

Paulinius looked up when we entered the room. His eyes glanced over at Charlie as did everyone else's in the room.

"Charlie," Esme's face took on an expression of great sadness, "Put him upstairs in Carlisle's study,"

Emmett went to do as he was asked. Jasper came forward and took Alice into his arms. He looked at Edward and I and asked, "Renesmee?"

"She's gone," Edward growled.

Paulinius gave an low chuckle and in a flash Edward was standing over him, his anger seething.

"Where is my daughter?" Edward demanded.

This only served to give the nomad more reason to laugh. His chuckle became a guffaw which deepened into a full throated laughter. He stared first at Edward as he laughed and then at me and his glee increased in it's intensity.

Edward did something then that told me volumes about how deeply this entire situation was affecting him. More so than anything he could have said. He slapped the laughing vampire hard across the face.

Gasps were heard around the room. Everyone was as surprised as I was at Edward's action however it did suffice to stop the nomad from laughing the way he was. Rage filled his eyes and his voice turned deadly cold as he responded.

"You will burn for that,"

"And you shouldn't burn for the trouble you've caused?" Garrett asked.

He came forward to stand next to Edward and I and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't you think you're being a little hypocritical?"

Silence was the only answer Garrett received from his question as Paulinius looked away.

"Edward," Esme chided, "I'm surprised at you,"

"Esme..." Edward said.

But he couldn't finish the sentence. His emotions were in turmoil. Just looking at him I could tell that he was ready to do more than just slap our "guest" but he was restraining himself. The reasons why were perfectly clear. If we were going to find our daughter, he was our best hope of accomplishing it.

He stalked off into the other room to regain his control. As he left the room, the nomad's eyes turned to follow him. He then looked at me and didn't move his gaze.

"You're daughter is gone," He said.

"I know. You took her. You and your friend,"

"You'll never get her back," His grin was pure evil.

"You're wrong about that,"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are," Rosalie answered.

She came over and stood next to me followed by Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Esme, and Kate. Eleazar, Carmen, Garrett, and Tanya stood a short distance behind them.

"I see you found our gift," His eyes glanced upstairs where we could all clearly hear Charlie still enduring the tortuous process of his transformation.

"He's going to hate you," Paulinius went on.

"He's my father,"

"You're the reason why he was taken,"

"You don't know anything about family," I answered him.

"I know more about family than you possibly could at your age. I know how they betray you. How they run out on you when you need them most. How they can be a burden when you leave your daughter with them for safety so that you can go off and leave them defenseless against those who would hunt them,"

"We were hunting you. You killed my mother. You killed Desmond Pullen and Billy Black,"

"Yes, I did. Did I ever tell you how sweet your mother's blood tasted? It was all I could do to make the process of draining her take as long as possible. Your step-father didn't last nearly as long,"

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Jasper. The waves of calm and control rolled off him and over me. He had sensed that I was close to losing it.

There was a moment's distraction as Carlisle came home. He was accompanied by Jacob and Sam. Edward came back into the room upon their arrival and we all confronted this vampire who had seen fit to do everything he could to ruin our lives.

"Your 'son' lacks hospitality," Paulinius said as they walked into the dining room.

"I'm sure you understand that he has strong feelings about the situation you've put him in," Carlisle replied.

"The situation you've put us all in," Alice added venomously.

"Where is Renesmee?" Esme asked in a calm voice.

"She's gone," Paulinius replied.

"Where have you taken her?" Jasper asked.

"I? I haven't taken her anywhere. I've been here with you,"

"Then where is she being taken?" Garrett pushed.

"Far away from here. To a place where she will be much better protected than she ever was here I might add," The gleam in Paulinius' eye was hard to miss. He was enjoying this.

"Where is that? To the Volturi?" I was still not convinced that they were a part of this.

"They have their part in this, that is true," Paulinius confirmed.

"So they are responsible," Edward's voice was dark; this was confirmation of what we'd been told earlier.

"You have no idea what you started here, do you?" Paulinius asked looking at me directly this time.

"What do you mean, what I started?"

"The Volturi have ruled for nearly a thousand years. They have guarded our ways and served to police our kind. Then you came along and in less than a year the power that they commanded has been reduced. Their numbers have dwindled and those that respect their power are dwindling along with them. You cannot expect them to take kindly to that. Not after having been in power for so long,"

"I've been watching the Volturi! I would have seen it if Aro or Caius had made any decisions to attack us again!" Alice said.

"You've been watching them? All of them?" Disbelief colored Paulinius' tone.

There was something here that he wasn't telling us. Something that we were missing. Alice's visions weren't infallible, we knew that. However things like decisions made by those she was watching were usually reliable.

"Who aren't you watching, Alice?"

"Most of them, Edward. There are just too many of them to watch all at once,"

"What of Chelsea?" Eleazar asked, "The Volturi use her to keep the guard intact. Her power ensures that,"

"Except that if there are too many of the guard who wish to leave, then she might over extend her power the same way Alice does if we have her watching too many things at once," Carlisle answered thoughtfully.

"Indeed. And the Volturi do not appreciate it when their power appears to be undermined. If too many of the guard leave at one time, you can only imagine how that might look to our world.

You my dear have started a domino effect that the Volturi may never recover from. You cannot expect them not to want to retaliate for that. At least some of them anyway,"

Some of them? Who among them would want to retaliate against me? Then it hit me. The answer was so clear that I realized in the beginning that if I'd looked for it I'd have probably seen it sooner.

"Jane! Jane's the one whose behind this, isn't she?"

"Jane?" Eleazar's look of surprise could not be missed.

"Bella's right," Edward groaned, "Jane hates Bella. She has ever since I went to the Volturi a few years ago, when I thought Bella was dead. Jane felt particularly embarrassed when Bella didn't fall victim to her gift. She thought Bella made her look useless and incompetent. She's never gotten over that,"

"Well now, you've discovered that a lot more quickly than was expected. Which means we can have enough of this charade. If you don't release me, and do it soon, then you will get your daughter back. She'll be sent to you in pieces,"

Cold fear locked into the pit of my stomach upon hearing this. What could we do? Charlie was in the throes of his transformation upstairs and he couldn't be left alone. Any human who came near him would be in the greatest of dangers.

We had to let Paulinius go. There was no choice in the matter. If we didn't Nessie would be killed. It looked very much like the Volturi would win this round.

Standing up I left the room. I couldn't stand to be near him. I couldn't stand the fact that my daughter wasn't home, where she should be, with me.

Edward's arms encircled me around my waist from behind. I felt his face rest in my hair as he said quietly and with conviction, "We'll get her back, Bella. We'll bring her home. We'll see this through until the end. I promise you that!"

I could only hope that he was right.


End file.
